Police state

The AP reports:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --The Rhode Island General Assembly is considering legislation that could give police access to Internet and phone records and credit card and bank information without a warrant or other court review, civil libertarians said.

The state police said the legislation would help track down the increasing instances of Internet-based crime, including fraud and child exploitation. They say they are only seeking expanded access to Internet records, not phone or banking records.

MeTheSheeple's favorite part is the justification:

State police say going before a judge to get a warrant can be time-consuming and cumbersome.

Cpl. John Killian, the state police's computer crime specialist, said it can take three to four hours of work to obtain a warrant.

"There's a balance between privacy and police authority," Killian said. "The current situation is weighted too far on the side of privacy."

So obviously the key to balky warrant procedures is to get rid of the warrants. I don't know what's scarier -- that law enforcement agencies are redrawing the lines so far, or that it's highly controversial when someone expects a search warrant.