Enacted in 2008, Section 702 allows the government to conduct warrantless surveillance on non-American individuals located outside the U.S. However, the communications of Americans are often swept into collection, given that many Americans communicate with people overseas. Though Congress included a provision on Section 702 ordering the government to minimize retention and use of Americans’ data, intelligence agencies routinely perform searches of Americans’ electronic communications, ignoring the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment’s protections. “The FBI conducted 200,000 of these ‘backdoor searches’ in 2022 alone,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. “Alarmingly, FBI agents have searched for the communications of tens of thousands of Americans engaged in ‘civil unrest’—including Black Lives Matter protesters—as well as members of congress, journalists, and more than 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign.” An amendment included in a suite of reauthorization packages contains language expanding the government’s domestic spying so radically that lawmakers call it “terrifying.” Sen. Ron Wyden (R-Ore.) warned, “This bill represents one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history. I will do everything in my power to stop it from passing in the Senate.” Under current law, the federal government may compel “electronic communications service providers” with direct access to communications — companies like Verizon, AT&T, and Google — to assist the National Security Agency (NSA) in carrying out Section 702 domestic surveillance. An amendment put forth by members of the House intelligence committee and passed last week expands the definition of “electronic communications surveillance provider” so broadly it would effectively deputize all small businesses across the entire U.S. and force them to spy for the NSA upon request. Should the U.S. Senate pass the bill, which is expected to come up for a vote this week, “any company or individual that provides ANY service whatsoever may be forced to assist in NSA surveillance, as long as they have access to equipment on which communications are transmitted or stored—such as routers, servers, cell towers,” warned Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center, in a post on X. Wyden said in a post on April 16 that the FISA bill will go to the floor this week for a full vote. He added that he will be working aggressively to stop its passage. If passed, the government could compel ordinary business like hotels, libraries, coffee shops, barber shops, hardware stores, laundromats, fitness centers, dentists offices, journalists, lawyers, and financial advisors to serve as surrogate spies. Any business tapped by the government would be subject to a gag order and unable to reveal that they were collaborating with U.S. intelligence agencies. Goitein continued, explaining the implications of this amendment passing:Last week, the U.S. House passed legislation extending Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702 authority for two years, following protracted debate and several attempts to force federal authorities to obtain a warrant before searching Americans’ data.
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
That’s not even the worst part. Unlike Google and Verizon, most of these businesses and individuals lack the ability to isolate and turn over a target’s communications. So they would be required to give the NSA access to the equipment itself or to use techniques or devices (presumably provided by the NSA) to copy and turn over entire communications streams and/or repositories of stored communications, which would inevitably include vast quantities of wholly domestic communications. The NSA, having wholesale access to domestic communications on an unprecedented scale, would then be on the “honor system” to pull out and retain only the communications of approved foreign targets. (Let that sink in.) HPSCI leaders deny that the administration has any intent to use this provision so broadly. Supposedly, there is a single type of service provider that the government wants to rope in. But they didn’t want anyone to know what that service provider was so they hid the real goal by writing the amendment as broadly and vaguely as possible. But no worries, Americans! The administration isn’t actually going to USE all the power it just persuaded the House to give it. I cannot overstate how mindblowingly irresponsible that is. I don’t think *any* administration should be trusted with an Orwellian power like this one. But even if *this* administration doesn’t plan to make full use of it… (Go ahead and fill in the blank.) There are certain powers a government should not have in a democracy. The ability to force ordinary businesses and individuals to serve as surrogate spies is one of them. Even if the targets are supposed to be foreigners, a power this sweeping WILL be abused. Journalists, activists, advocates, and even government officials are urging Americans to call their senators and tell them to vote no on this amendment.
