Reform bill would overhaul controversial surveillance law | CyberScoop<\/title> <meta name=\"description\" content=\"A measure introduced on Tuesday puts civil libertarians on a collision course with the Biden administration.\"> <link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/section-702-reform-wyden\/\"> <meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\"> <meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"> <meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reform bill would overhaul controversial surveillance law \"> <meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A measure introduced on Tuesday puts civil libertarians on a collision course with the Biden administration.\"> <meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/section-702-reform-wyden\/\"> <meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CyberScoop\"> <meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-07T18:49:34+00:00\"> <meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-07T18:49:35+00:00\"> <meta 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single-post postid-77937 single-format-standard\" id=\"readabilityBody\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/section-702-reform-wyden\/#main\" class=\"skip-to-content-link visually-hidden-focusable\">Skip to main content<\/a> <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--top ad--top-desktop\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <main id=\"main\" role=\"main\" tabindex=\"-1\"> <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--top ad--top-mobile\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"stickybar\" class=\"stickybar stickybar--newsletter js-stickybar\" readability=\"0.82\"> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \" readability=\"24.948780487805\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"29.299065420561\">\n<ul class=\"single-article__eyebrow\">\n<li class=\"single-article__category\"> <a class=\"single-article__category-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/news\/uncategorized\/\"> <span>Uncategorized<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> A measure introduced on Tuesday puts civil libertarians on a collision course with the Biden administration. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law.jpg?resize=640%2C426&ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law-1.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law-1.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law-1.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law-1.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law-1.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law-1.jpg?resize=600,400 600w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law-1.jpg?resize=252,168 252w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law-1.jpg?resize=506,337 506w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law-1.jpg?resize=1013,675 1013w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law-1.jpg?resize=1265,843 1265w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1013px) 100vw, 1013px\"><figcaption> Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, speaks during a news conference on the House budget proposals, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 1, 2023. (STEFANI REYNOLDS\/AFP via Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"52.971468336813\"><body readability=\"106.67486818981\"><\/p>\n<p>Bipartisan legislation introduced to Congress on Tuesday would overhaul a controversial surveillance law to require a warrant for searches of Americans\u2019 data collected under the measure, a proposal that would significantly curtail the U.S. government\u2019s sweeping surveillance powers. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wyden.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/wyden-lee-davidson-and-lofgren-introduce-bipartisan-legislation-to-reauthorize-and-reform-key-surveillance-law-secure-protections-for-americans-rights\">The proposal<\/a> is the first major piece of legislation introduced to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire at the end of the year, and includes a range of proposals designed to modernize U.S. surveillance law and improve privacy protections.<\/p>\n<p>The Government Surveillance Reform Act would broadly restrict the ability of the U.S. intelligence community to use its foreign intelligence powers to collect the communications of U.S. citizens. It would also require a warrant for the government to <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/legislation-data-brokers-congress-privacy-surveillance\/\">purchase data from data brokers<\/a>, who often sell highly personal data with few privacy protections. The bill contains a range of exceptions to its warrant requirements, allowing law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access data collected under Section 702 in emergency situations without having to first obtain a warrant. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmericans understand that it is possible to confront our country\u2019s adversaries ferociously without throwing our constitutional rights into the garbage can,\u201d Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in remarks introducing the bill on Tuesday. \u201cOur founding fathers made it clear that if government agencies want to read an American\u2019s private communications, they should get a warrant.\u201d <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The introduction of the legislation, which is co-sponsored by nine Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and another 12 House representatives of both parties, puts its backers on a collision course with the White House.<\/p>\n<p>Before the bill was even introduced on Tuesday, a senior administration official briefed reporters on what he described as its \u201cunworkable\u201d requirements. While cautioning that he hadn\u2019t yet read the measure, he said the White House is firmly opposed to its key reforms and described a proposal to require a warrant for queries of U.S. person data collected under Section 702 as a \u201cred line\u201d for the Biden administration. <\/p>\n<p>Currently, Section 702 allows intelligence agencies to collect the communications of non-U.S. persons abroad whose communications transit U.S. telecommunications systems. The program\u2019s incidental collection of Americans\u2019 data, which can then be searched by the FBI, has raised oversight concerns from civil liberties advocates and many lawmakers. <\/p>\n<p>The tool has been repeatedly abused by the FBI, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2023\/05\/19\/fbi-surveillance-black-lives-matter-protesters-00097924\">to surveil Black Lives Matter protesters<\/a>, donors to U.S. congressional campaigns and at least one sitting U.S. congressman and one U.S. senator. The FBI has said that it has <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/fbi-702-fisa-americans-digital-data\/\">strengthened its internal compliance mechanisms<\/a> to cut down on misuse of Section 702 data, but civil libertarians argue that the long history of misuse of data collected under the law requires widespread reform. <\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration and U.S. intelligence agencies say the sunsetting of the law, set to occur at year\u2019s end, will deal a major blow to U.S. national security. The White House has in recent months <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/section-702-colonial-pipeline\/\">declassified information about how the law<\/a> is used and said that it has played a key role in preventing assassinations on U.S. soil, combating drug trafficking and preventing cyberattacks. <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The PR effort from the White House has aimed to build political support for renewing the measure, but, so far, Tuesday\u2019s legislation is the only measure introduced on Capitol Hill to renew the law. The White House has said it would be open to codifying in law the FBI\u2019s internal reforms on how it handles Section 702, but Tuesday\u2019s proposal represents a far broader overhaul. <\/p>\n<p>Wyden said he is open to suggestions for how to improve the bill, but with a mere two months left until Section 702 expires, a packed legislative docket and a lower chamber in the throes of a leadership crisis, the reform effort faces an uncertain future. <\/p>\n<p>Civil liberties groups immediately backed Tuesday\u2019s measure, calling it an overdue update to American surveillance laws that were written in the age of the telephone and have failed to be updated to address the ways U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies acquire data today. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are proud to endorse the Government Surveillance Reform Act because it provides the smart, comprehensive safeguards we need to protect Americans\u2019 civil rights and civil liberties from warrantless surveillance,\u201d Jake Laperruque, the deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology\u2019s Security and Surveillance Project, said in a statement. <\/p>\n<p>Beyond warrant requirements for data collected on U.S. persons, the bill would also end so-called \u201cabout\u201d collection under 702, which refers to the targeting of communications about a target but not sent to or from that target. The bill would also prohibit the targeting of communications of individuals located abroad in order to collect their communications with a person in the United States, and expand the role of amici curiae before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in a bid to provide greater oversight of U.S. surveillance operations. <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Additionally, the bill would create a framework governing the use of so-called cell site simulators, which mimic the infrastructure used by cell phones to send and receive data in order to carry out surveillance. The bill broadly would require warrants for their use by U.S. law enforcement, but contains a number of carve-outs to allow for their warrantless use in national-security contexts. <\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\">\n<div class=\"single-article__tags-container\">\n<h4 class=\"single-article__tags-title\">In This Story<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<p> <\/html><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__ads js-single-article-sidebar\">\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-5 ad--rightrail_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-4 ad--rightrail_2 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-3 ad--rightrail_3 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"popular-stories popular-stories--single-post\">\n<div class=\"popular-stories__container\">\n<h2 class=\"popular-stories__title\"> More Scoops <\/h2>\n<p>  <\/div>\n<p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>\n<section class=\"latest-podcasts\">\n<h2 class=\"latest-podcasts__title\"> Latest Podcasts\t<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"top-categories\">\n<div class=\"top-categories__container\">\n<h3 class=\"top-categories__category-title\">Technology<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"top-categories__container\">\n<h3 class=\"top-categories__category-title\">Government<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <\/main> <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--bottom \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"interstitial\" class=\"welcome__container\"> <button id=\"close-modal-1\" class=\"welcome__clickable_area\"><\/button> <\/p>\n<div class=\"welcome__ad_wrapper\">\n<p> <button id=\"close-modal-3\" class=\"welcome__continue-button\">Continue to CyberScoop<\/button> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>   <\/body> <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/section-702-reform-wyden\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reform bill would overhaul controversial surveillance law | CyberScoop Skip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[655,1180,269,1181,1],"tags":[657,1182,275,1183,325],"class_list":["post-2006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress","category-ron-wyden","category-section-702","category-surveillance","category-uncategorized","tag-congress","tag-ron-wyden","tag-section-702","tag-surveillance","tag-uncategorized"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","chromenews-featured":"","chromenews-large":"","chromenews-medium":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"Cyber Scoop","author_link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/author\/cyberscoop\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/congress\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Congress<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/ron-wyden\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Ron Wyden<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/section-702\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Section 702<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/surveillance\/\" rel=\"category tag\">surveillance<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","tag_info":"Uncategorized","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":2006,"date":"2023-11-07T18:49:34","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T18:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=77937"},"modified":"2023-11-07T18:49:34","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T18:49:34","slug":"reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2023\/11\/07\/reform-bill-would-overhaul-controversial-surveillance-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform bill would overhaul controversial surveillance law\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"