FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 27, 2017
Media contact: Reuben Hayslett, 347.756.9084, [email protected]
Demand Progress activists shine spotlight on FISA Court: Over 100 flashlights used to call attention to secret FISA Court
Washington, D.C.—On Tuesday, September 26th, in the dead of night, a coalition of activists led by Demand Progress gathered hundreds of flashlights to shine a literal spotlight on warrantless surveillance practices rubber-stamped by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).
Activists called for substantive reforms to Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which allows incidental collection and intentional searching of U.S. person information without a warrant. Section 702 will expire unless reauthorized at the end of this year.
“Each flashlight represents one thousand petition signers from across the country calling for the overhaul of Section 702.” said Reuben Hayslett, Campaigner at Demand Progress. “We know that wholly domestic communications–among people living in the U.S.–get swept up in Section 702’s dragnet and are used for cases that have nothing to do with national security, all without a warrant or probable cause.”
Demonstrators held light-up signs that read, “Stop Spying On Us” on the steps of the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse, home of the top secret FISA court.
See photos below:
About Demand Progress
Demand Progress is a national grassroots group with two million affiliated activists who fight for basic rights and freedoms needed for a modern democracy.
For further information, please contact:
Sean Vitka, counsel, [email protected]
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