The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) has introduced the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2023, which aims to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This bill has been met with criticism and calls for significant reforms. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has expressed concerns about the bill, stating that it ignores years of abuse and unconstitutional surveillance, and it does not provide the necessary changes, reforms, or new oversight to protect the privacy of people’s communications. The bill has also been described as a “farce” and criticized for renewing mass surveillance authority without addressing significant issues. The House Intelligence Committee’s bill would reauthorize Section 702 for eight years and includes some reforms to strengthen accountability and transparency, but it has been met with opposition due to concerns about civil liberties and privacy protections. The EFF has urged individuals to urge their members of Congress to reject the bill. EFF has long fought for significant changes to Section 702. By the government’s own numbers, violations are still occurring at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. According to McKinney, “FBI agents have been using the Section 702 databases to conduct millions of invasive searches for Americans’ communications, including those of protesters, racial justice activists, 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign, journalists, and even members of Congress.” Has our government, with the FBI in the lead, come to treat Section 702, enacted by Congress for the surveillance of foreigners on foreign soil and corrupted into being a mass domestic surveillance program of Americans? The debate over the reauthorization of Section 702 and the potential impact on privacy and civil liberties will be ongoing, with different perspectives on the need for reforms and oversight but by then it maybe too late.
