Washington, D.C. — On Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the Government Surveillance Reform Act, a bipartisan and bicameral bill that would close loopholes in the law that allow the government to conduct warrantless surveillance on people in the United States and buy their private communications in bulk. Specifically, the bill requires the government to obtain a warrant to access Americans’ data and bans the government from buying Americans’ private calls, texts and emails from data brokers. Demand Progress has been leading a bipartisan coalition to reform Section 702 and close the data broker loophole under both Democratic and Republican presidents.
The following is a statement from Demand Progress Senior Policy Advisor Hajar Hammado:
“The federal government should not have the ability to bypass courts and obtain the private emails, texts and calls of Americans—especially when they are purchased from shady data brokers who sell our private information to anyone willing to pay. The Government Surveillance Reform Act protects Americans’ privacy by finally closing the backdoor search loophole and closing the door on data brokers. Protecting Americans’ privacy and civil liberties from these threats cannot wait, Congress must implement these reforms ahead of the April 20 expiration date. We thank Sens. Wyden and Lee, and Reps. Davidson and Lofgren for their steadfast leadership and we urge all members of Congress to enact critically needed privacy protections before renewing the government’s spying authority.”