In mid-December, Congress approved a temporary extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire on December 31st. Congress has until mid-April to decide whether to reauthorize the provision.
This controversial law was intended to allow the government to collect foreign communications, but it has been used repeatedly. spy on americans.
Congress should not extend Section 702 without significant reforms, such as requiring the government to obtain a warrant before using the law to read Americans' private communications.Passing bipartisan legislation will make that possible. Protect freedom and repeal warrantless surveillance lawsor the Liberty Protection Act.
The surveillance reform bill, introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (R-New York), would close loopholes for “backdoor investigations” and end many other forms of illegal spying. It will be possible to
The dangers posed by warrantless surveillance are real.
Intelligence authorities have exploited Section 702 to conduct unfounded and illegal backdoor searches of, among other things, private communications: crime victim, 19,000 donors to Congressional campaigns,Member of Parliament, journalist, Two men of “Middle Eastern descent” They are based on witnesses who claim they were moving boxes of Drano. 141 people participate in George Floyd protests murder.
recently 1 year“Tens of thousands of non-compliance inquiries related to the civil war.”
Section 702 allows the government to collect the communications of non-Americans abroad without authorization. However, because we have friends, family, and colleagues overseas who we communicate with for completely innocuous purposes, our communications are also collected. However, if one of your correspondents becomes subject to Section 702 surveillance, the government can collect conversations with them.
Once these private phone calls, instant messages, and emails are collected, intelligence agencies search them without a warrant, even when they are intentionally looking for dirt on American citizens.Since Section 702 was enacted, intelligence and law enforcement agencies have millions of One of these is unprovoked backdoor searches of our private communications.
about 60 percent of Asian Americans are immigrants, meaning they were born in another country. Therefore, most Asian Americans have close ties to family and friends overseas, making them more likely to be caught up in a 702 collection or be the subject of a backdoor search. That's why we recently established a coalition of 63 Asian American and related organizations led by Asian Americans, with one of us serving as president and executive director. called We urge Congress not to reauthorize Section 702 without significant reform.
It is no coincidence that so many abuses of Section 702 raise civil rights concerns. When intelligence and law enforcement agencies have near-unfettered discretion in deciding who to spy on, they always decide to monitor minorities and vulnerable groups. There is a simple solution to prevent this abuse. If intelligence agencies want to spy on Americans, they need to be part of us and get a warrant. Said My colleagues in Congress 10 years ago.
Some members of parliament are proposed bill It would expand surveillance without preventing the worst abuses of Section 702. Fortunately, the Freedom Protection Act provides a better option. This would not only require a warrant to search U.S. citizens' communications collected under Section 702, but also prevent the government from purchasing people's private communications or location information without a warrant. transparency, accountability and oversight will be strengthened.
The American people deserve better than another decade of surveillance abuse, but the harmful legislation pushed by the Congressional Intelligence Committees (both known as conspiracy charges) will make it worse. It will be done. FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act — become law.
It is imperative that Congress gets this right before extending Section 702, which only points to one path: the Freedom Protection Act.
Mark Udall served as Colorado's representative in the U.S. Senate from 2009 to 2015. He is a senior advisor on the Privacy and Surveillance Responsibility Project.
John C. Yang is President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice –AAJC.
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