House Republican Leadership Blocking Fix to Limit Controversial Spy PowersSean Moran 24 Nov 2024
House Republican leadership is blocking a proposal to narrow a controversial provision that grants intelligence agencies the power to spy on a vast number of American businesses to help the government spy.
Congress in April reauthorized Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a controversial surveillance designed to target foreign adversaries; however, it often surveils American citizens without a warrant.
Tucked within this law is a provision, known as the electronic communications service provider (ECSP) definition, which broadly expanded the types of business and service providers that can be forced to assist the program to “any other service provider who has access to equipment that is being or may be used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications.”
The dramatic expansion of the ECSP raised alarm bells.
Privacy advocates decried it as a “trojan horse” for “PATRIOT Act 2.0.”
Marc Zwillinger, a top FISA expert and one of the FISA Court Amici, wrote that any American business could have its communications tapped by a landlord:
The new amendment would — notwithstanding these exclusions — still permit the government to compel the assistance of a wide range of additional entities and persons in conducting surveillance under FISA 702.
The breadth of the new definition is obvious from the fact that the drafters felt compelled to exclude such ordinary places such as senior centers, hotels, and coffee shops. But for these specific exceptions, the scope of the new definition would cover them. That’s not a “narrow” change. …
It also means that any U.S. business could have its communications (if one side is foreign) tapped by a landlord with access to office wiring, or the data centers where their computers reside, even if it eliminates the possibility that the same surveillance could be conducted with the assistance of hotels, restaurants, community centers, and other public retail establishments. For a specific hypothetical example of how this surveillance could occur, see our prior blog post.
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/11/24/house-republican-leadership-blocking-fix-to-limit-controversial-spy-powers/
