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WASHINGTON -- The government's decision Thursday to loosen surveillance restrictions placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation could lead to an erosion of innocent Web surfers' rights, say privacy advocates. Worse yet, it may not even lead to better security.

"The changes that were announced are the worst of both worlds," says James Dempsey, deputy director at the Center for Democracy and Technology. "They're an intrusion on free speech, with no likelihood of increased security."

Attorney General John Ashcroft likely disagrees. "This demonstrates our dedication to fighting terrorism, while maintaining a scrupulous respect for civil rights," Ashcroft said in a statement Thursday.

New Times, New Rules

Under the old guidelines, FBI agents needed a specific complaint or information before searching Web sites for clues in terrorism cases. Now agents can go looking for leads, rather than simply following up on information.

Civil liberties groups say these relaxed rules are ripe for abuse, and that law-abiding Web surfers may pay with their privacy rights. The potential for privacy violations outweighs the likelihood of catching future terrorists, they say. "It is troubling that the FBI wants to be surfing the Web and monitoring chat rooms and other Internet forums without any focus on criminal conduct," Dempsey says. "That's a recipe for misguided, fruitless, and chilling investigations."

He says people who browse the Web, post comments on message boards, and participate in online chats are in danger of being spied on by FBI agents who may consider their activities linked to terrorism.

FBI spokesman Paul Bresson, however, says the idea behind the guidelines is "proactive" versus "reactive" law enforcement.

"We live in a world where the prevention of the next terrorist attack is our number one focus," Bresson says. "We can talk about prevention, but until we have the tools in place, we can't be proactive in thwarting attacks."

General Research

This approach, says Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo, means FBI agents should be able to do general research on a topic they feel is relevant to preventing a future attack. They no longer need special permission to do so.

Before Thursday's change, FBI agents were not allowed to do simple Web searches to corroborate preliminary investigations of suspicious subjects, he says. Using the example of bioterrorism, Corallo says the new guidelines allow an agent to look up informational sites on how terrorists might conduct biological attacks.

"The phrase [in the guidelines] that everyone's overlooked is that the FBI will be allowed to go into any place, or go onto the Internet, under the [same] terms and conditions as any member of the public," Corallo says.

These guidelines don't give permission to do electronic surveillance or go undercover without authorization, Corallo continues. But before Thursday, the FBI had to stay away from suspicious sites unless specific criminal activity had been documented there. Now they can simply watch and wait for something to happen.

Privacy At Risk

However, privacy violations are sure to results from the loosened FBI code, says Chris Hoofnagle of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

"Now you can data-mine prospectively to find suspicious behavior," Hoofnagle says.

These preemptive searches amount to "fishing expeditions" that will turn the FBI into a "domestic spying agency," he says.

Dempsey says he also worries that the FBI's loosened restrictions will cause Internet groups to self-censor material, discouraging healthy discussion of divisive topics.