Conservatives and progressives are calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to approve amendments to curb surveillance abuses in next week’s fight to reauthorize the spying authority.
Conservative activist group FreedomWorks and progressive activist group Demand Progress announced Friday that Chairman Mike Johnson will reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a controversial law. They released a statement saying they are looking for a way forward. Section 702 is intended to monitor foreign enemies. But intelligence agencies often use this law to spy on American citizens, circumventing the Fourth Amendment’s protections against warrantless searches.
Demand Progress and FreedomWorks are just two of the 32 civil liberties organizations. sent On Monday, they sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging them to withdraw FISA’s reauthorization if amendments and data collection protections are not included in the voting process.
FreedomWorks and Demand Progress have proposed an amendment to House Speaker Johnson that would require intelligence agencies to obtain a warrant before surveilling Americans and allow law enforcement agencies to monitor Americans’ private communications through third-party data brokers. requested that the proposed amendment be approved to prohibit the acquisition of
Look — Rep. Jim Jordan: There should be a Section 702 warrant, and a separate but equivalent department should be responsible for the intelligence community.
House Rules Committee
FreedomWorks President Adam Brandon said in a written statement:
Lawmakers don’t need another closed-door classified briefing from the alphabet soup of intelligence agencies. Not only is this briefing unnecessary, but it is clearly intended to influence members in advance of discussion of FISA Section 702.
Let me explain. The Intelligence Reform and Security of America Act (RISAA) was introduced after months of negotiations between the House Judiciary Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). Although the two groups could not agree on a consensus bill, they agreed to bring RISAA to the floor and give both groups the opportunity to introduce three amendments. The House Judiciary Amendment would protect Americans from warrantless searches and third-party data brokers. We are concerned that intelligence agencies will try to influence the outcome of the amendment vote.
Chairman Mike Johnson turned to the intelligence community despite supporting similar oversight reforms in the past. Recent polls show that more than three-quarters of Americans support closing backdoor loopholes for warrantless searches and preventing the government from purchasing sensitive information from third-party data brokers. Respondents said they supported closing the broker loophole. Congressional leadership, including Speaker Johnson, is far removed from what the American people want.
Video: Congressman Warren Davidson calls for amendment to ban the Department of Defense from circumventing the Fourth Amendment
US House of Representatives
Demand Progress Policy Director Sean Vitka said in a written statement:
This speaks volumes about how foreign data brokers are pouring cash and lobbyists into blocking Congress from closing data broker loopholes. This is an imminent threat to our Fourth Amendment rights, and it is even more disturbing that the Congressional Intelligence Committee is aligned behind these foreign interests. Reps. Turner and Himes should be disavowing these shady companies and standing up to this crusade against the privacy of their constituents, but instead they seem to be at the mercy of the data broker industry.
Vitka quoted be politiko Relux, a UK-based data brokerage firm that owns analytics firm LexisNexis, has recently been involved in the FISA fight to advocate for “loosening the restrictions on what data brokers can share with law enforcement and other federal agencies.” Reports that it has hired lobbyists. ” One of his Relx subsidiaries is facing a lawsuit following an incident. new york times It has been reported that data companies such as LexisNexis Risk Solutions were providing extensive information about driver behavior to insurance companies, leading to calls for a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation.
Demand Progress Policy Director I got it. Israeli cyberintelligence company NSO Group says it has created software that targets political dissidents and human rights activists.
While dangerous and deeply disturbing, this is not the first time foreign data brokers have attempted to thwart U.S. surveillance reform. Just last year, his NSO Group, supplier of the infamous Pegasus spyware, hired former NSA general counsel Stewart Baker.
Vitka continued, “The Department of Commerce blacklisted NSO Group in 2021. Foreign governments are using mobile phones to ‘maliciously target’ dissidents, human rights activists, journalists, etc.” Because he knowingly provided spyware that
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) has proposed the First Amendment Not for Sale Act, which would prohibit intelligence agencies from purchasing Americans’ personal data, often referred to as the “data broker loophole.” . This provision is included in the FISA reform bill advanced by the House Judiciary Committee, the Protecting Freedoms and Repealing Warrantless Surveillance Act, sponsored by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.).
“Members of Congress should reject these attempts by foreign data brokers to undermine privacy efforts taking place in the United States. More than 80% of Americans want to protect their privacy. We want to see reform,” Vitka added. “Specifically including closing the data broker loophole. We should expect Congress to prioritize the will of voters over the demands of foreign data broker giants, but we’ll find out next week.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter at Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
