Stop Congress from Reauthorizing the FISA Amendments Act, a Warrantless Spying BillRainey Reitman The FISA Amendments Act allows the NSA warrantless access to Americans communicating with a target overseas as long as the conversation deals with foreign intelligence informationa broad term that can mean virtually anything. And unlike regular warrants, FISA Amendments Act orders can target whole groups of peopleso one order could potentially affect thousands of Americansand dont require probable cause that a crime has been committed. Many believe that the government uses this law to justify receiving a fire hose of information about how Americans use the Internet. Whistleblower evidence (PDF) provided by ATT technician Mark Klein and former NSA employee William Binney show that the NSA has installed equipment in ATT facilities, creating a copy of all Internet traffic flowing through facilityincluding our domestic and international emails and web browsing dataand sending that data to the government. In October, President Obama appeared on The Daily Show where John Stewart asked about the Bush-era warrantless surveillance program (which Obama had soundly criticized as a candidate in 2008). Rather than promise meaningful reform, Obama vaguely claimed that the program has been modified and that they had built a legal structure and safeguards in place that werent there before on a whole range of issues. We arent sure what issues the President is talking about, but one thing hasnt seen any public reform: warrantless wiretapping of our Internet communications. The nation was shocked when revelations about the NSAs widespread surveillance program were first unearthed more than 5 years ago, including President Bushs admission he was violating the surveillance law by spying on selected Americans without warrants. EFF hasgathered and presented evidence that the actual spying was much broader, including millions of innocent Americans. EFFs evidence includes testimony from three former NSA employee whistleblowers as well as schematics and photographs from inside ATTs San Francisco facilities where millions of Americans communications are being copied to the government and three former NSA employee whistleblowers. But rather than dismantle this illegal program, Congress gave at least part of it a sheen of legality by passing the FISA Amendments Act in 2008. Thankfully, a group of bipartisan senators including Ron Wyden, Rand Paul, and Mike Lee have placed a hold on the bill. Theyre asking for debate and time to consider amendments that would increase privacy protections and add transparency requirements. And theyre asking that the government answer questions about the scope of domestic spying questions the Department of Justice refuses to answer. Senator Wyden is planning to do his best to block the FISA Amendments Act reauthorization until theres real debate, an honest accounting of how the government is using surveillance powers, and meaningful reform. EFF and other civil libertarian groups are joining up with Senator Wyden in calling for sunlight and reform around FISA. Please use our action center to contact your member of Congress and urge them to oppose a rubber-stamp of the FISA Amendments Act. And please also tweet a message to Senator leadership to ensure they dont rush a vote on this issue without even time for a meaningful debate. Hey @McConnellPress and @SenatorReid: Dont ram through a 5-year extension on FISA before the end of the year. https://eff.org/r.2asn linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 