WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of Justice is reportedly seeking a year-long extension of government surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), even though the law expires in less than two months.
In response to this news, Demand Progress Policy Director Sean Vitka issued the following statement:
“The government is trying to sneak through an additional year of warrantless surveillance without congressional approval, which would perpetuate existing government spying under rules that are completely inadequate in protecting Americans from warrantless surveillance. The move is a gross betrayal of the American people. As polling has shown, 76% of Americans think the government should obtain warrants before searching FISA surveillance for dirt on Americans, and 81% want a robust debate over stronger privacy protections before Section 702 is extended. This represents a fundamentally anti-democratic and anti-transparency effort to kick the can down the road by the Biden administration, and it jeopardizes every Americans’ privacy. The American people are fed up with these bad-faith efforts to stall reform, and this news proves the need for swift Congressional action to overhaul the government’s warrantless surveillance powers.”
Demand Progress Education Fund and FreedomWorks recently released polling regarding Americans’ perspectives on government surveillance. Here are a few of the topline findings:
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Over 81% of Americans want Congress to “debate a variety of privacy protections for people in the U.S. before extending” Section 702, including the data broker loophole specifically. (Q10)
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78% of Americans think Congress should “strengthen privacy protections for people in the U.S. against warrantless government surveillance.” (Q1)
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74% of Americans think “Congressional leaders ensure rank-and-file members of Congress can openly debate and vote up-or-down” on these issues. (Q12)
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76% of Americans think agencies should be “required to obtain warrants” before knowingly conducting backdoor searches of billions of international communications looking for people in the United States. (Q2)
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80% of Americans think the government should “obtain warrants before purchasing location information, internet records, and other sensitive data about people in the U.S. from data brokers.” (Q8)