By Schmidty in General Privacy —

Warrantless Surveillance

Warrantless Surveillance
Photo by Marco Oriolesi

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has recently expired, as a House vote failed on Thursday. After Donald Trump appointed a rather controversial person, Bill Pulte, to be the director of National Intelligence, Democrats refused to let Section 702 continue without a significant reform.

What is Section 702 of the FISA?

Section 702 allows the government to collect information on non-citizens of the United States of America. Without a warrant, they are by law able to complete searches and collect data on non-citizens. The FISA also states that it cannot be used to "reverse-target" American citizens. That means that they are not allowed to investigate a non-citizen to also understand the whereabouts of a citizen. Unfortunately, though, it is used that way. They state that "targets may send an email or have a phone call with a United States person" and so it "requires specific procedures to minimize the acquisition, retention, and sharing of any information concerning United States persons." "Minimize" is all it says here. They still are able to collect information on the United States citizen.

Why is it a problem that Section 702 expired?

Section 702 provides a significant amount of data to authorities. According to CBS News, "60% of the president's daily intelligence briefing is derived from information collected under the law, and they consider it a tool that is critically important to national security." This can be a huge problem for officials, as they will no longer be legally allowed to collect this information. That's what they say at least.

"No spying on American citizens without a warrant. Period."

The Freedom of the Press Foundation states that Section 702 has "been abused in the past to target journalists, peaceful protesters, elected officials, and others." This is hugely in violation of the privacy rights that we want in our country. The government shouldn't be allowed to spy on their citizens just because they want to. They should require a warrant.