The Homeland Security bill that recently passed the Senate has attracted certain carping critiques. For instance, there's the hysterical claim on Slashdot that the law allows any "government entity" (not just the new Homeland Security department) to read your email or voicemail without warrants or probable cause. This claim is technically true, but if you click through to their source, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, you find out that the government entity would have to "convince your service provider that releasing your personal information would be necessary to prevent 'death or serious injury'".

I feel so much better now. It's not as if local cops, or government employees in service to this administration would ever lie. Would they?