Latest in FISA Reform
FISA Section 702 is up for reauthorization, and Congress is wringing its hands again. This time the monster in the closet is the incidental collection and unmasking of U.S. person communications.
Video of the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Section 702 was written to be an important intelligence tool, but drafters did not give sufficient consideration to (1) how the statute is applied in the law enforcement context and (2) how the statute impacts U.S. companies operating in foreign jurisdictions.
The tension between a Nation-state’s need to detect and interdict threats to life, safety and property inevitably conflict with the privacy interests of its individual citizens and private sector entities. Increased flattening and convergence of global communications will continue to exacerbate this tension, as Nation states seek to pursue these twin goods within the common spaces shared by protected populations and those who would hold society at risk.
This paper examines this gatekeeper function US industry plays in surveillance and recommends surveillance reforms that will reinforce that function without denying necessary government access to information.
Testimony from today's House Judiciary Committee hearing on "International Conflicts of Law Concerning Cross Border Data Flow and Law Enforcement Requests."
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has released the names of the first five Amici Curiae that will serve the Court as part of reforms enacted under the USA Freedom Act.
Reform will require changes to American law in two areas – (1) limiting “generalised” surveillance, and (2) providing expanded redress for foreign citizens.
On October 5, Third Way and the R Street Institute sent a joint request to the respective leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees asking them to declassify records of the legislative negotiations leading up to passage (and subsequent reauthorization) of the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008.