Get FISA Right

Recently, I was pleased to see an e-mail from Restore the Fourth show up in my in-box. They have been active in protecting us from unreasonable search and seizure (text of the amendment: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. ”)

Here’s what they say in the new e-mail:

We’re working on our New Year’s resolutions for protecting Fourth Amendment rights.

In 2023, lovers of freedom have a major opportunity. One of the key laws authorizing mass surveillance, Section 702 of the 2008 FISA Amendments Act, is set to expire. If Congress does not act, the NSA will be deprived of statutory authority for surveillance of “US-to-foreign” communications. Its vast dragnet “incidentally” captures the communications of millions of Americans without a warrant. Then, the FBI accesses that database without a warrant, for domestic law enforcement purposes, performing over 3 million searches each year. These “backdoor searches” circumvent the Fourth Amendment and permit mass domestic surveillance.

We can stop this—but we need your help.

Founded after the Snowden revelations of 2013, Restore the Fourth has already helped secure the sunset of another surveillance law, Section 215 of the Patriot Act, in 2020. The last time Section 702 was up for debate, we secured some transparency reforms. Now, with greater bipartisan support for surveillance reform, we can go further. It’s time FISA went back to authorizing surveillance on an individual, not a mass, basis. It’s time the FBI got a warrant for searches on Americans—and it’s time for the NSA and FBI to come clean, to Congress and the public, about the real scale of what they’re doing. You deserve privacy in your communications and your browsing, instead of a government agent looking over your shoulder at everything you do.

We’ll be talking with folks from Restore the Fourth to see how folks can help—they are looking for both donations and volunteers, so check back here and on their own site. These issues never completely go away; we win some battles, but so do those who would ignore our rights. As the saying goes, “the price of freedom is eternal vigilance”, so please join us and Restore the Fourth and keep watching, keep speaking out, and keep sharing information with your friends and colleagues.