Congress has extended a law allowing foreign spies to be tapped without a warrant. And not only…
After a bitter debate that lasted until early Saturday morning, the US Congress voted to extend section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for two years. This program allows US intelligence agencies to intercept the communication data of foreigners abroad without a warrant, even if they are negotiating with US citizens.
The Senate approved the extension by a margin of 60 votes to 34. Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer called this step necessary for national security. Last week, the House of Representatives also voted in favor, despite the call of former President Donald Trump in social networks to "bury" the bill.
The law, first passed in 2008 and repeatedly extended since then, allows the NSA to obtain data on foreign individuals abroad for intelligence purposes from American technology companies without a warrant. About 3% of this information is passed to the FBI.
Of course, the 702 program is mostly criticized for the fact that American messages can be intercepted during wiretapping. That is why civil liberties advocates from both parties have been demanding additional regulations for years.
In the House of Representatives, an amendment requiring a court order to access citizens ' data collected under the 702 program was rejected by a dramatic 212-212 vote. A similar draft by Senator Dick Durbin failed with a minimal margin of votes. Five other less ambitious amendments were subsequently rejected.
Intelligence officials have long pushed for an extension of the law, arguing that ending it would endanger the lives of many people. According to FBI Director Christopher Wray, the program helped prevent a terrorist attack on a critical infrastructure facility last year and exposed a Chinese cyberattack on a US transportation hub.
Interestingly, in 2022, the court overseeing the activities of the intelligence services identified more than 278 thousand cases in which the FBI abused the terms of the law, in the period from 2020 to the beginning of 2021. Among other things, the bureau requested data on the congressman's sponsors, participants in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, and protesters against the murder of George Floyd. However, there was no reason to believe that this information is related to intelligence activities.
Now the FBI has tightened its procedures. Analysts must independently justify the relevance of queries, and lawyers must approve mass searches for large groups of people.
However, the new version of the document has expanded the range of companies required to cooperate with the authorities. Now this applies not only to telecommunications firms, but also to "any other service providers" that have access to equipment for transmitting and storing communication data, that is, cloud storage.
Privacy advocates have sharply criticized this innovation as an "Orwellian measure" that allows the government to control the private correspondence of citizens. However, one of the authors of the amendment, Congressman Jim Himes, insists that it has a narrow technical focus and will not affect ordinary people. However, the debate over the balance between national security and the right to privacy is likely to continue.
After a bitter debate that lasted until early Saturday morning, the US Congress voted to extend section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for two years. This program allows US intelligence agencies to intercept the communication data of foreigners abroad without a warrant, even if they are negotiating with US citizens.
The Senate approved the extension by a margin of 60 votes to 34. Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer called this step necessary for national security. Last week, the House of Representatives also voted in favor, despite the call of former President Donald Trump in social networks to "bury" the bill.
The law, first passed in 2008 and repeatedly extended since then, allows the NSA to obtain data on foreign individuals abroad for intelligence purposes from American technology companies without a warrant. About 3% of this information is passed to the FBI.
Of course, the 702 program is mostly criticized for the fact that American messages can be intercepted during wiretapping. That is why civil liberties advocates from both parties have been demanding additional regulations for years.
In the House of Representatives, an amendment requiring a court order to access citizens ' data collected under the 702 program was rejected by a dramatic 212-212 vote. A similar draft by Senator Dick Durbin failed with a minimal margin of votes. Five other less ambitious amendments were subsequently rejected.
Intelligence officials have long pushed for an extension of the law, arguing that ending it would endanger the lives of many people. According to FBI Director Christopher Wray, the program helped prevent a terrorist attack on a critical infrastructure facility last year and exposed a Chinese cyberattack on a US transportation hub.
Interestingly, in 2022, the court overseeing the activities of the intelligence services identified more than 278 thousand cases in which the FBI abused the terms of the law, in the period from 2020 to the beginning of 2021. Among other things, the bureau requested data on the congressman's sponsors, participants in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, and protesters against the murder of George Floyd. However, there was no reason to believe that this information is related to intelligence activities.
Now the FBI has tightened its procedures. Analysts must independently justify the relevance of queries, and lawyers must approve mass searches for large groups of people.
However, the new version of the document has expanded the range of companies required to cooperate with the authorities. Now this applies not only to telecommunications firms, but also to "any other service providers" that have access to equipment for transmitting and storing communication data, that is, cloud storage.
Privacy advocates have sharply criticized this innovation as an "Orwellian measure" that allows the government to control the private correspondence of citizens. However, one of the authors of the amendment, Congressman Jim Himes, insists that it has a narrow technical focus and will not affect ordinary people. However, the debate over the balance between national security and the right to privacy is likely to continue.
