Justice Dept. wants more Net monitoring

WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. Justice Department wants to expand the government's ability to monitor online traffic including instant messages and visits to Web sites.

In a 75-page petition to the Federal Communications Commission petition, the Justice Department called for Internet broadband and online telephone providers to be required to provide access for wiretaps and other monitoring of voice communications.

The Justice Department said rapidly changing technology on the Internet could be a way for both terrorists and criminals to evade surveillance, the Washington Post reported Saturday. However, privacy and technology experts said the proposal poses serious privacy and business concerns.

"The breadth of what they are asking for is a little breathtaking," said Dempsey James Dempsey, of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a public interest group. "If you want to bring the economy to a halt, put the FBI in charge of deploying new Internet and communications services."

In a non-scientific online poll by the Detroit News, about 95 percent of respondents said they were against allowing federal agencies to more easily monitor Internet communications.