The Surveillance Showdown That Fizzled

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Like the weather rapidly getting colder outside, the fight over renewing, reforming, or sunsetting the mass surveillance power of Section 702 has been put on ice until spring.

In the last week of legislative business before the winter break, Congress was scheduled to consider two very different proposals: H.R. 6570, the Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act in House Judiciary Committee (HJC); and H.R. 6611, the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2023 in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). However, as the conversation about how to consider these proposals grew heated, both bills have been pulled from the legislative calendar without being rescheduled.

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Tell Congress: Defeat HPSCI’s Horrific Surveillance Bill

The legislative authority for Section 702 was set to expire December 31, 2023, though language was added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to extend the legislative authority of Section 702 through April 2024. It is disappointing that, despite all of the reported abuses of the Section 702 program, Congress chose to pass a reauthorization bill instead of making the necessary effort to include critical reforms. As advocates for reform, including EFF, said in a letter to Congress in late November, bypassing the discussion around reform by slipping an extension of the law into the defense author

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