This is clearly an invasion of privacy. But I wonder if people realize that devices called "signal splitters" are already spread throughout the system by the communications companies that carry internet signals. Furthermore, no company owns all the lines, microwave repeaters and sattelite's of it's system, every communications provider depends on equipment, satellites and signal repeaters that are owned by the government and "space" is rented by the communications companies.

To prevent crashes on the internet system due to equipment failure, traffic overload or because other things like lightening stikes, signal spliters copy every signal and store the data package on a temporary emergency storage device. If a disruption occurs, a computer finds another route and then replaces the lost data packets of information and the user doesn't notice anything except a message may arrive a little slower than normal or a url may take a little longer to load than normal. Without signal splitters and back-up copies of data packets, the internet wouldn't work at all with today's volume of traffic.

The further away an e-mail is sent, it's been split and copied dozens of times.

The government may need a warrant to use material in court, but the system is already in place to copy all information. Even if the bill fails and the information can't be used in court, there is nothing preventing the government mirroring the temporary storage devices which help prevent internet breakdowns with permanent storage devices that live on the government's part of the nation's communicaiton's grid.