The Senate Security Committee of the United States is working on a new bill (the so‑called Intelligence Authorization Act), which includes a special clause that will force providers of electronic communications services (sites) to investigate and report any terrorist activity they observe to law‑enforcement authorities.
This new version of the Intelligence Authorization Act will be submitted to the Senate for a vote in the coming days, and if approved, it will transfer the user surveillance license from the hands of the state to private businesses and companies.
According to The Washington Post, which first reported on the issue, the bill was drafted after the 2008 Protect Our Children Act, which requires online companies to monitor and report any child pornography activity.
The authorities will, of course, continue to use their own surveillance systems on sites and services such as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
As soon as companies detect such user posts on their sites, they must inform law‑enforcement services and provide details about the user's account.
The new bill does not mention anything about content removal, but most websites will do it independently, mainly due to their terms of service, or the negative publicity that may arise.
The new Intelligence Authorization Act will not only affect social networks, but will apply to any type of website that allows users to express their thoughts, such as video sharing portals (YouTube, Vimeo), email services like Yahoo or Gmail, or even user comments on every small forum or blog that exists on the internet.
