They claim the US Patriot Act gives them the right to legally do this stuff without a warrant or due process.
As it turns out in addition to the DMCA they don't even need to pass SOPA or CISPA they can combine the DMCA with the Patriot Act to monitor Internet use and then claim a DMCA violation even if it does not violate any copyright, and they can take down any website or blog or comment that way and arrest the person behind the IP address as a 'suspect' and hold them indefinitely.
The same is true of phone calls, you make one they don't like and you become a 'suspect' they can hold indefinitely.
Don't blame Obama for this, Bush and Congress passed the Patriot Act for domestic spying long ago.
They'll be looking for anyone who wears a Guy Fawkes Mask, or who advocates gun rights, or who speaks out against government corruption, or who supports Bitcoins and Darknets, or who chooses to use free and open source software instead of commercial software with NSA backdoors and spyware in them, or who calls themselves a 'hacker' or even talks about 'social networks' and advanced science terms involving chemistry and physics that could lead to bomb making. Did you order a pressure-cooker recently and then some fireworks? Well you might end up on one of their lists then.
