Congress poised to jam through reauthorization of mass surveillance

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
> Date: November 27, 2017 at 7:05:15 AM EST
> To: Infowarrior List <infowarrior () attrition org>
> Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Congress poised to jam through reauthorization of mass surveillance
>
> Congress poised to jam through reauthorization of mass surveillance
>
> By Jason Pye and Sean Vitka, opinion contributors — 11/27/17 06:20 AM EST 10
> The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill
>
> http://thehill.com/opinion/cybersecurity/361875-congress-poised-to-jam-through-reauthorization-of-mass-surveillance
>
> Congress doesn’t have much time left on the legislative calendar for the year, but there’s still a lot on the agenda 
> to get across the finish line. In the few remaining days, Republicans hope to pass a tax reform bill and either 
> another short-term continuing resolution or an omnibus to fund the government.
>
> Another item on the agenda is the reauthorization of Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), 
> including the controversial Section 702.
>
> The current authorization for Section 702 expires on December 31, and it’s the first time Congress has faced this 
> reauthorization since Edward Snowden’s earth-shattering disclosures about the National Security Agency’s mass 
> surveillance apparatus. Committees in the Senate and House have competing proposals to reauthorize the program. But 
> with the clock running out, Congress once again appears to be poised to jam through reauthorization.
>
> Passed in 1978, FISA allows federal intelligence agencies to collect the electronic communications of foreign persons 
> to surveil for certain illicit activities, including terrorism. But not all of the electronic communications 
> collected by the National Security Agency (NSA) are those of foreign persons.
>
>
> According to a 2014 Washington Post report, 90 percent of account holders whose communications were collected were 
> not the intended targets. “Many of them were Americans,” the Post explained. “Nearly half of the surveillance files, 
> a strikingly high proportion, contained names, e-mail addresses or other details that the NSA marked as belonging to 
> U.S. citizens or residents.” 
>
> Civil libertarians have urged Congress to take this reauthorization as an opportunity to implement meaningful reforms 
> to shield innocent Americans from mass surveillance while ensuring that federal intelligence agencies have the tools 
> they need to protect the United States from foreign threats. Some in Congress, however, seem committed to running 
> roughshod over the Fourth Amendment.
>
> The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has marked up the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act, S. 2010. The bill, 
> sponsored by Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) is actually worse than existing law. It explicitly allows the attorney 
> general to use information collected under Section 702 for domestic crimes that have nothing to do with national 
> security and forbids judicial review of that decision.
>
> Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee has marked up the USA Liberty Act, which, despite or because of painstaking 
> deliberations, does not sufficiently protect innocent Americans from surveillance. The House version of the USA 
> Liberty Act, for instance, has a weak warrant requirement, which would allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
> (FBI) to conduct backdoor searches of electronic communications collected by the NSA for domestic, non-terrorism 
> investigations. Additionally, the proposed end of “about” collection, in which the government collects information 
> that is neither to nor from a target, would sunset after six years.
>
> The FISA Court forced the end of “about” collection earlier this year, finding the practice to be “a very serious 
> Fourth Amendment issue.” The court also concluded that the NSA’s failure to disclose information represented “an 
> institutional ‘lack of candor.’” These are just two of many red flags the secret judicial body has raised over 
> intelligence agencies’ collection practices. 
>
> There are alternatives. The Senate companion to the USA Liberty Act, introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and 
> Mike Lee (R-Utah), improves upon the version marked up by the House Judiciary Committee. In particular, the 
> improvements include a far stronger prohibition on searching for Americans’ information without a warrant and 
> permanently ending “about” collection.
>
> Separately, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have introduced the USA RIGHTS Act. The bill would stop 
> “backdoor searches” of Americans’ information, permanently end “about” collection, fix disturbing problems faced by 
> defendants against whom the government uses Section 702 information, forbid the knowing collection of entirely 
> domestic communications, and institute other important reforms. The USA RIGHTS Act is by far the strongest reform 
> bill on the table, and all who truly care about their civil liberties should support it.
>
> But despite these tremendous efforts by many in Congress, the ink on the Bill of Rights, which is so crucial to the 
> American experiment, is fading. With no clear path to the floor for any of these bills, the chance that Section 702 
> reauthorization with no or minimal reforms is included in an omnibus has grown significantly. But a spending bill is 
> no place for an issue that literally affects the fundamental rights of every American. It is no place for substantive 
> debate over the very real privacy and security issues facing America.
>
> The leadership in the House and the Senate must give those in both parties the opportunity to offer amendments to 
> reform FISA. These ideas have broad bipartisan support, and the closure of the backdoor search loophole itself has 
> passed the House of Representatives twice. To jam Section 702 reauthorization into an omnibus or to otherwise prevent 
> debate on the floor would not only diminish Americans’ privacy, it would diminish our voice.
>
> The public deserves a chance to fight for its Fourth Amendment right to privacy and to know the names of those, 
> Republican and Democrat alike, who are actively working to diminish this fundamental liberty.
>
> Jason Pye is the vice president of legislative affairs for FreedomWorks. Sean Vitka is counsel for Demand Progress.



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