United States President Joe Biden has signed off on a controversial bill that expands the surveillance powers granted to U.S. government agencies, which critics worry could severely impact the privacy of American citizens.
On April 20, the U.S. Senate voted 60–34 in favor of passing legislation that reauthorizes, extends and amends Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for an additional two years. President Biden signed it into law a day later.
Champions of the bill, including President Biden and a swathe of members from both sides of the aisle, said the bill was essential in aiding counter-terrorism efforts and preserving the national security interests of the United States.
“Allowing FISA to expire would have been dangerous. It’s an important part of our national security toolkit and helps law enforcement stop terrorist attacks, drug trafficking, and violent extremism,” said Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor.
The bill’s critics, however, said that the reauthorization and amendment of FISA would usher in a new era of surveillance and vastly expand spying powers afforded to government agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
In an April 20 post to X, Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, lashed out at members who voted in favor of the bill, saying they had “sold out American civil liberties.”
“The provision effectively grants the NSA access to the communications equipment of almost any U.S. business, plus huge numbers of organizations and individuals. It’s a gift to any president who may wish to spy on political enemies, journalists, ideological opponents,” wrote Goitein.
“This is a shameful moment in the history of the United States Congress.”
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Currently, U.S. agencies such as the NSA can force internet service providers such as Google and Verizon to hand over sensitive data concerning their targets.
Now that the bill has been signed into law by President Biden, the U.S. government will be able to go far beyond its current scope of surveillance and force a swathe of companies and individuals providing internet-related services to assist with surveillance.
The bill initially received strong pushback from privacy-conscious Republicans and Democrats alike but was passed through the House of Representatives on April 13. An amendment to the bill — requesting that the security agencies require a warrant for all internet-based surveillance — was also shot down by a slim margin in the House.
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden said the reauthorization of FISA section 702 meant that America had “lost something important” and described the legislation as being unconstitutional.
On April 13, Senator Ron Wyden described the bill as one of the most “dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history.”
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