FBI Seeking To Renew This Law After Misusing It Over 300,000 Times

Written By BlabberBuzz | Wednesday, 14 June 2023 05:15 AM
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FBI Seeking To Renew This Law After Misusing It Over 300,000 Times

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has urged Congress to renew the Section 702 statute of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire at the end of the year.

The statute, enacted in 2008, allows the U.S. government to obtain foreign intelligence information from terrorists, hackers, and other foreign intelligence targets located overseas who operate using U.S. electronic communications service providers. However, the statute has been criticized for its misuse on American citizens, particularly those who participated in the January 6 and Black Lives Matter riots.

Despite the criticism, officials have emphasized the importance of renewing the statute. One member of the Biden administration stated that "permitting 702 to lapse, or to see it renewed in a diminished or unusable form would really raise grave national security risks." Others warned that not fully renewing the statute would limit the U.S.' ability to gather intelligence on enemy nations such as Iran, Russia, and China.

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However, 21 organizations, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, have called on Congress not to renew the statute without implementing "critical reforms." The group criticized the FBI for using the law to "conduct hundreds of thousands of warrantless searches of Americans' communications each year."

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The FBI's misuse of Section 702 electronic database has been revealed to have occurred over 278,000 times between 2020 and 2021 against crime victims, those who participated in the January 6 and George Floyd riots, and 19,000 donors to a congressional candidate. The FBI attributed the misuse to "confusion historically about what the query standard was."

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The Senate judiciary committee has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday, with officials sounding off beforehand. The debate over the renewal of the statute is likely to continue, with concerns over national security and privacy rights at the forefront.

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