Privacy
Tell the U.S. Senate: STOP RISAA, the FISA Mass Surveillance Expansion
We all deserve privacy in our communications. Part of that is imposing limits upon the government’s ability to collect and access them. That’s why it’s critical to reform Section 702, the mass surveillance law that creates an end run around our constitutional rights and a back door for the government to query our communications. In the last few weeks, there have been multiple attempts to reauthorize this power with varying levels of reform and compromise. Nearly half of the U.S. House of Representatives supported requiring the government to obtain court approval before accessing Americans’ communications in the government’s Section 702 databases—but at the last minute, the pro-mass surveillance side passed a bill which actually expands, rather than reforms these powers. That’s why we need you to tell the Senate to stop it!
What happened: Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is set to expire on April 19. The House of Representatives just passed the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), a reauthorization bill that greatly increases the scope of information the government can collect under Section 702 , and allows the government to use this unaccountable and out-of-control mass surveillance authority to spy on hopeful immigrants and asylum seekers. This move abandons any real argument that this is for terrorism or intelligence only.
The U.S. Senate will likely try to advance this terrible bill this week – a bill that Sen. Ron Wyden called “one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history.” He’s right.
Tell your Senators to vote NO on the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act. Our call tool will make it easy for you to call your Senator—it only takes a moment.
Section 702 allows the government to conduct surveillance of foreigners inside the United States. While Section 702 prohibits the NSA and FBI from intentionally targeting Americans, these agencies routinely acquire innocent Americans' communications “incidentally”. The government can then search Amercians’ “incidentally collected” communications, all without a probable cause warrant.
The government has repeatedly abused Section 702 by searching its databases for Americans’ communications. In 2021 alone, the FBI reported conducting up to 3.4 million warrantless searches of Section 702 data using Americans’ identifiers.
This loophole, and many other things, need to change before Congress acts to renew Section 702.
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What to say
Hello, my name is _______ and I live at _____, and I am asking you to please vote NO on the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act.
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