White House pushes for renewal of electronic surveillance law provision
Source: The Guardian
White House pushes for renewal of electronic surveillance law provision
Section 702 of the Fisa Act is set to expire at the end of the year, but its reauthorization is facing backlash
Edward Helmore
Tue 13 Jun 2023 20.01 BST
Last modified on Tue 13 Jun 2023 20.35 BST
The White House is stepping up pressure on lawmakers to renew a section of electronic surveillance law which permits the government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign persons located outside the US.
The provision, known as section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (Fisa) Act, is set to expire at the end of the year. But its renewal is facing pushback from privacy advocates and lawmakers, some citing examples in which law enforcement search requests were misused to conduct illegal surveillance on US citizens.
On Monday, Joe Biden’s administration circulated examples showing the US had used electronic surveillance under section 702 to catch fentanyl smugglers as well as the ransomware hackers who temporarily shut down the Colonial Pipeline Company in a 2021 cyber-attack that led to gas shortages along the eastern seaboard.
The public campaign to build support for the provision comes as a poll released last week showed that the public is growing more skeptical of the need to sacrifice civil liberties for security.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/13/biden-electronic-government-surveillance-law-privacy
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