(WASHINGTON) — A bipartisan group of Senators led by Mike Lee (R-UT) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the SAFE Act, to enact strong reforms and new privacy protections to a warrantless Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act provision (“FISA Section 702”) that is set to expire in less than 10 weeks unless Congress passes new legislation.
The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) joined a broad set of civil liberties groups from across the political spectrum endorsing the bill. Jake Laperruque, Deputy Director of CDT’s Security & Surveillance project, stated:
“FISA 702 has been abused in shocking ways. The FBI has misused it to snoop on protesters, lawmakers, journalists, judges, and campaign donors. If Congress genuinely cares about surveillance abuse, weaponization, and “lawfare,” it needs to rein in this warrantless surveillance power. The SAFE Act includes bold FISA reforms, creates strong guardrails against surveillance misconduct, and has been meticulously crafted to protect national security. With less than 10 weeks until FISA 702 expires, Congress should take up reform legislation quickly. Kicking the can on FISA would be a dereliction of duty.”
The SAFE Act would create a warrant requirement for U.S. person queries of communications collected (without a warrant) through FISA Section 702; close the “data broker loophole,” whereby law enforcement agencies buy sensitive data to avoid court authorization requirements to collect it; roll back a dangerous expansion of what entities can receive FISA Section 702 demands to turn over records, and empower the FISA Court “amici” to more effectively provide oversight over court proceedings and defend privacy rights. A CDT-led coalition of over two dozen civil society groups recently highlighted these four policies as the most critical reforms to any reauthorization of FISA Section 702.
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