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Hi,
As early as Wednesday, the Senate will vote on a dangerous expansion of mass surveillance called the “Make Everyone A Spy” provision. What?
In the fight over the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the heads of the House Intelligence Committee snuck through an amendment that would allow the federal government to secretly compel millions of Americans to facilitate warrantless spying, including providing direct access to communications networks. This would cover cleaners, janitors, and even security guards. They’d have no choice, they wouldn’t be able to say anything, and this would destroy the trust we all put in them.
Congress shouldn’t be EXPANDING warrantless surveillance in America, and it definitely shouldn’t be throwing everyday Americans further into the fray of a completely out-of-control system of spying.
The House already passed this dangerous provision after deceptive tactics by the heads of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner and Jim Himes.1
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is already abused by the government to spy on Americans by collecting and searching through international communications without a warrant. The data broker loophole allows government agencies and law enforcement to buy location information about us from private companies, including Elon Musk’s Twitter/X. But instead of fixing any of that, the House passed special privacy protections only for themselves.
Worse, lawmakers want to go one step further and make everyone a spy whenever they want, without so much as court approval.
The House Intelligence Committee’s tactics to pass the “Make Everyone A Spy” provision add up to a brazen and deliberate attempt to sneak through one of the most terrifying expansions in the history of government surveillance. This is not speculative: the amendment clearly allows the government to secretly conscript uninvolved Americans and American businesses to spy on each other’s communication networks.
The Senate is our last chance to stop this dangerous expansion of warrantless government mass surveillance.
Sign the petition: Urge the Senate to vote down the “Make Everyone A Spy” provision!
Thanks for taking action,
Joey and the team at Demand Progress
Sources:
- Common Dreams, “House Dems, GOP Team Up to Expand Warrantless Spying on Americans,” April 12, 2024.
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