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US House votes to re-authorize law that allows warrantless surveillance of citizens
(www.theguardian.com)
Is this the democracy they keep telling us we need to save?
this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2024
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“I don’t have the time right now, but if members want to know I’ll tell you how we could have been saved from 9/11 if we didn’t have to have the additional warrants.” Pelosi said.
Sure, Jan.
Pelosi's Last Theorem
Totally unhinged, further manufacturing consent for blatantly disregarding constitutional right to privacy.
The truth is W Bush had reviewed reports a month ahead of time indicating the 9/11 plot, and chose to ignore it thinking it was too outlandish. Oops. Still, the pre-patriot act, pre-fisa systems we had in place were sufficient. This is just classic overreach by a nanny state insistent on bolstering its spy apparatus.
Re-authorize? It was ever unauthorised?
They mean, re-authorize in a sense of renew there.
Ah, thanks!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The law, which gives the government expansive powers to view emails, calls and texts, has long been divisive and resulted in allegations from civil liberties groups that it violates privacy rights.
Section 702 allows for government agencies such as the National Security Administration to collect data and monitor the communications of foreign citizens outside of US soil without the need for a warrant, with authorities touting it as a key tool in targeting cybercrime, international drug trafficking and terrorist plots.
Section 702 has faced opposition before, but it became especially fraught in the past year after court documents revealed that the FBI had improperly used it almost 300,000 times – targeting racial justice protesters, January 6 suspects and others.
California Democratic representative and former speaker Nancy Pelosi also gave a statement in support of passing section 702 with its warrantless surveillance abilities intact, urging lawmakers to vote against an amendment that would weaken its reach.
Debate over Section 702 pitted Republicans who alleged that the law was a tool for spying on American citizens against others in the GOP who sided with intelligence officials and deemed it a necessary measure to stop foreign terrorist groups.
One proposed amendment called for requiring authorities to secure a warrant before using section 702 to view US citizens’ communications, an idea that intelligence officials oppose as limiting their ability to act quickly.
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