US Congress Fails to Pass Long-Term FISA Extension, Authorizes It Through April 30 (cnn.com) 41
Yesterday the U.S. Congress approved "a short-term extension" of a FISA law that allows wiretaps without a warrant for surveilling foreign targets, reports CNN — but only until April 30. Republican congressional leaders had sought an 18-month extension, but "failed to secure" the votes after "clamoring from some of their members for reforms to protect Americans' privacy."
The warrantless surveillance law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was set to expire on Monday night. Members are hoping the additional time will allow them to come to agreement without ending authorization for the intelligence gathering program, which permits US officials to monitor phone calls and text messages from foreign targets... There was an hour of suspense in the Senate Friday morning when it appeared possible that Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, a longtime critic of FISA 702, might block the House-passed extension. But ultimately, he said his House colleagues had assured him "this short-term extension makes reform more likely, and expiration makes reform less likely," and so he chose not to object....
House Republican leaders believed Thursday night they had struck a deal with conservative holdouts who harbor deep and longstanding concerns that a key piece of the law infringes on Americans' privacy rights. But in a pair of after-midnight votes, more than a dozen rank-and-file Republicans rejected the long-term reauthorization plan on the floor, which was the result of days of tense negotiations among leadership, lawmakers and the White House.
The law allows authorized US officials to gather phone calls and text messages of foreign targets, but they can also incidentally collect the data of Americans in the process. Senior national security officials have for years said the law is critical for thwarting terror attacks, stemming the flow of fentanyl into the US and stopping ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure. Civil liberties groups on the left and the right, meanwhile, argue the surveillance authority risks infringing on Americans' privacy.
House Republican leaders believed Thursday night they had struck a deal with conservative holdouts who harbor deep and longstanding concerns that a key piece of the law infringes on Americans' privacy rights. But in a pair of after-midnight votes, more than a dozen rank-and-file Republicans rejected the long-term reauthorization plan on the floor, which was the result of days of tense negotiations among leadership, lawmakers and the White House.
The law allows authorized US officials to gather phone calls and text messages of foreign targets, but they can also incidentally collect the data of Americans in the process. Senior national security officials have for years said the law is critical for thwarting terror attacks, stemming the flow of fentanyl into the US and stopping ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure. Civil liberties groups on the left and the right, meanwhile, argue the surveillance authority risks infringing on Americans' privacy.
FISA ? What sport is that? (Score:4, Funny)
I know FIFA is soccer
and FIA is Formula 1 racing (But they got paused by the Gulf War, and I got a note today from F!-TV saying my subscription is expiring and is not available for renewal)
Re: (Score:3)
It is the 'spy at home as we spy abroad' law passed in the late 70s and was enhanced further in the following decades to allow a nearly complete and unrestricted domestic surveillance package today.
Incidentally, the headline is misleading, it should have said "Congresscritters extend FISA until the end of the month so they have time to extend it for another decade and widen its scope further", which is what will actually happen.
Re: (Score:2)
STFU, coward. 47 is GUILTY of everything. Russia? Did you miss where Xtwit added a "where is this poster from", and a ton of them turned out to be Russian, or Pakistan?
And your (non-)Saviour sued the company that Steele worked for in the UK, and LOST, because except for the pee tape, ALL WAS PROVEN TRUE.
Re:Obama and Biden (Score:4, Interesting)
Considering all the data that gets hoovered up, it could be in part a blackmail thing as well.
Somehow Section 702 has been twisted to expand 'surveillance of foreign persons' to an utterly absurd degree. First it was just suspicious foreigners, then all foreigners, then foreigners and whoever they talked to. Then the person who was talked to could be surveilled after the contact was concluded. Eventually it was expanded to Six Degrees of contact. For example:
You call the hotel in Phuket to ensure there will be a bottle of champagne when you arrive. FISA can now surveil you, your parents, the friend of your parents, their children, the children's friends, and the parents of the friends.
Re: (Score:1)
...and yet, even with the evidence of their mistakes to learn from, you still choose to be a loser.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Whataboutism
Re:Obama and Biden (Score:5, Interesting)
supported this too, without question.
It turns out neither of them are president right now and thus your comment is irrelevant to the situation at hand. Even in politics not everything needs to be about partisanship. We criticised Obama at the time, we criticised Biden at the time, and we will criticise Trump, just like we did last time too (except for DrMrLordX who insisted in 2024 that Trump won't pass this because he's mad it was used against his staffers in 2026 [sic - he meant 2016], lets see how well his post ages).
Re: (Score:1)
Please link to your criticism of either Obama or Biden, otherwise, I don't believe you.
Re: Obama and Biden (Score:2)
Did you know that not everything people say is stored permanently online? In fact, most things people say do not come with a permalink.
Re: (Score:2)
Try typing FISA into the search terms above. There are plenty of normal people with a functioning brain on Slashdot who don't participate in partisan bullshit. I'm sorry your Orange Jesus is hated more than most, but if he refuses to sign FISA into law I will actively praise him. I promise you this as someone who does not participate in any active cult (regardless of who their leader is).
Re: (Score:3)
We criticised Obama at the time, we criticised Biden at the time,
Please link to your criticism of either Obama or Biden, otherwise, I don't believe you.
Try here: https://yro.slashdot.org/story... [slashdot.org]
not the case (Score:2)
" But ultimately, he said his House colleagues had assured him "this short-term extension makes reform more likely, and expiration makes reform less likely," and so he chose not to object...."
Bullshit, reform will only be likely if we arrest, try, and execute every person who lobbies for this act to remain in force.
Re: (Score:2)
Wouldn't expiration make reform unnecessary?
Ya, but ... (Score:2, Informative)
House Republican leaders believed Thursday night they had struck a deal with conservative holdouts who harbor deep and longstanding concerns that a key piece of the law infringes on Americans' privacy rights.
All of whom are apparently okay with ICE arresting, deporting and killing U.S. citizens, though.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure but those bad people are democrats, or probably illegals anyway though. If they are US citizens they really shouldn't be. Seriously voter fraud in the US is very easy to define. Any vote that's not for a republican (Trump really) is fraudulent. And those casting such contrary votes are illegal aliens. Because we all know that true Americans vote Trump. It's that simple.
As for our kind of people, we wouldn't want a true patriot's freedom to organize an insurrection to be infringed on with domestic spy
FISA was born out of 9/11 (Score:4, Insightful)
It was a time when the world was especially paranoid, and we were willing to trade most of our privacy, for security. It wasn't a good trade then, and it still isn't a good trade.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (Score:4, Informative)
FISA was passed in 1978, and was the worst thing to come out of the Carter Administration (which was actually pretty good about most other aspects of privacy so it's doubtful he envisioned the way it's subsequently metastasized.)
Re: (Score:2)
You are correct, I was confusing it with the Patriot Act.
Re: (Score:2)
It was expanded post 9/11 to increase surveillance powers. Before it was foreign intelligence only. post 9/11 it included on American soil, if at least one end was foreign.
So before 9/11, it would apply to what the CIA could gather between say, a Canadian and a French person but not
Upsetting and sad. (Score:2)
"Fails to pass" the extension? (Score:2)
Where is Slashdot's libertarian streak in this headline? Shouldn't it be "In Wildly Massive Success Beyond All Realistic Expectations, Congress Finally Remembers the Fourth Amendment"?
Re: (Score:2)
Slashdot is recently at an all-time high in bootlicking for not at all mysterious but trite and depressing reasons
Congress passed an extension, but just a short one (Score:2)
Where is Slashdot's libertarian streak in this headline? Shouldn't it be "In Wildly Massive Success Beyond All Realistic Expectations, Congress Finally Remembers the Fourth Amendment"?
It's common for /. commenters to make comments having only read the headline and not the actual article, but in this case apparently you did not even read to the end of the headline, which says that Congress passed an extension. I don't think this can be called a "Wildly Massive Success Beyond All Realistic Expectations". At best, libertarians can say "attack by Congress on privacy gets kicked two weeks into the future".
Safeguards against parallel construction? (Score:2)
Any renewal needs to ensure Americans are safe from the use of parallel construction or at least that defendants are required to be told if it happened.
https://www.bjcl.org/blog/priv... [bjcl.org]
Still of use? (Score:2)
Since people don't phone nor text anymore but use end to end encrypted messaging so I'm sure spies and terrorist do the same?
\o/ (Score:1)
Spying on ItsNotRealis bad, spying on US citizens good.