Facebook and Google battle latest FBI attempt to expand surveillance

Silicon Valley wants to stop a rewrite of a US surveillance law that would mean FBI can access web browsing history in the same way they can get telephone records

The FBI and Silicon Valley are in a fight over whether web browsing records are the same as telephone bill records.

The latest surveillance battle gripping the technology industry is focused on a rewrite of US surveillance law that would mean the justice department would be able to access a citizen's web browsing history, location data and some email records without approval from a judge using a so-called "national security letters" (NSLs).