Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Investing

FISA Fight Final Score: Surveillance State 1, Bill of Rights 0

by April 22, 2024
April 22, 2024
FISA Fight Final Score: Surveillance State 1, Bill of Rights 0

Patrick G. Eddington

Just shy of one year ago, the public learned that an FBI agent had conducted a query of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702 database for information on 19,000 American donors to a congressional campaign, among other episodes of 702 database query misconduct. The revelations, contained in a partially declassified Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opinion, received massive media coverage and condemnation from House and Senate members across the political spectrum. The facts about these domestic surveillance abuses were not then and are not now in dispute.

Yet despite this clear evidence for the need to require a probable cause‐​based warrant to access the stored communications of Americans under FISA Section 702 (and this Senate floor speech on April 19 by Senator Mike Lee (R‑UT) is a legal clinic in that respect), over the last ten days efforts to mandate such a requirement were defeated in both chambers. The final bill, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (H.R. 7888), was signed into law by President Joe Biden on Saturday, April 20, just hours after a Senate majority stopped every attempt to improve the bill via amendments and passed it by a vote of 60–34.

Even worse, H.R. 7888 actually expands the reach of FISA Section 702 by broadening the definition of “electronic communications service provider” in a way that will encompass cloud‐​based storage companies, among others. That provision was condemned even by former Justice Department lawyers who have argued cases before the FISC.

To the extent that there’s any good news for Bill of Rights defenders in this otherwise outrageous and maddening outcome, it is this: we will do this all over again two years from now. For the first time, the FISA Section 702 provision has been extended for only two years—significantly less than the prior reauthorizations in 2012 and 2018.

The question is, will the outcome be any different the next time around?

Unless surveillance reformers change their approach (i.e., shift from a nonprofit‐​based advocacy and public education effort to a method with more political punch), the results may be the same or even worse.

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
DP TRADING ROOM: Find Shorts Using the Diamond Dog Scan
next post
A Return to US Casualty Aversion: The 9/11 Wars as Aberrations

You may also like

A Journalist Arrested for Corroborating a Tip? The...

June 6, 2024

Taiwan Arms Backlog, February 2024 Update: Long Waits...

March 5, 2024

Biden Administration Again Delays Decision on Banning Menthol...

April 29, 2024

Federal Spending Is a Leaky Bucket

March 24, 2025

Biden‐​McCarthy Deal a Modest Start

May 31, 2023

Are Government Prohibitions Effective?

May 20, 2024

Reflections on My Visit to Fudan University After...

October 28, 2024

Court’s ICWA Ruling Doesn’t Reach Individual Rights Claims

June 15, 2023

A Setback for Election Reformers?

November 20, 2024

Journavx: A Promising Opioid Alternative, but Not a...

January 31, 2025

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Inside the Biden cover-up probe: 8 aides questioned, more on the way

      August 2, 2025
    • BROADCAST BIAS: ABC compares Sydney Sweeney ad to Nazis as networks go nuts about her ‘genes’

      August 2, 2025
    • Jeremy Hunt: ‘We’re over-medicalising anxiety and depression with sick notes’

      August 2, 2025
    • Cambodia to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize for role in ending country’s conflict with Thailand

      August 2, 2025
    • WATCH: Trump says he is hopeful Hillary Clinton will be investigated for election fraud

      August 1, 2025
    • Trump moves nuclear submarines weeks after praising sub’s power in Iran strikes

      August 1, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,652)
    • Investing (2,168)
    • Politics (16,284)
    • Stocks (3,228)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved