US Congress Passed FISA Section 702 Surveillance Program Extension Until April 2024
"The legislative authority for Section 702 was set to expire December 31, 2023, though language was added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to extend the legislative authority of Section 702 through April 2024," writes the EFF.
- "In the last week of legislative business before the winter break, Congress was scheduled to consider two very different proposals: H.R. 6570, the Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act in House Judiciary Committee (HJC); and H.R. 6611, the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2023 in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)."
"As the conversation about how to consider these [reform] proposals grew heated, both bills have been pulled from the legislative calendar without being rescheduled."
- "The current stalemate also means that the pro-surveillance hardliners of the intelligence community were not able to jam through their expansion of the program based on the same old scare tactics they’ve used for years."
Congress has voted to pass the NDAA—in which they deceitfully concealed an extension of the warrantless spying program ("Section 702") universally opposed by the public.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) December 14, 2023
Last year the FBI exploited 702 to spy on Americans (protestors, donors—even Congress) more than 200k times.
"It is disappointing that, despite all of the reported abuses of the Section 702 program, Congress chose to pass a reauthorization bill instead of making the necessary effort to include critical reforms," wrote the EFF.
- "As advocates for reform, including EFF, said in a letter to Congress in late November, bypassing the discussion around reform by slipping an extension of the law into the defense authorization bill during conference demonstrates a blatant disregard for the civil liberties and civil rights of the American people."
