No to Expanding Warrantless Surveillance, No to H.R. 6611

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URGENT: NO TO EXPANDING WARRANTLESS SURVEILLANCE, NO TO H.R. 6611

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorizes warrantless surveillance of American's communications if one party to the communication is foreign. Recently declassified documents show that, by their own report, federal law enforcement agencies violated their own rules over a quarter of a million times in performing these searches, and are still violating them as many as twenty times every day. Among those subjected to unlawful and unauthorized searches were elected officials, political campaign donors and nonviolent protesters.

A reasonable set of reforms to Section 702 are contained in the Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act (PLEWSA) H.R. 6570, but in order to get PLEWSA to the Senate, we have to act urgently to defeat the FBI's bill - the FISA Reform and Authorization Act (FRRA) H.R. 6611.

There is no reform in the FRRA. It is an expansion of warrantless surveillance. FRRA expands surveillance by modifying the definition of an electronic communication service provider to include any party with access to or serving as a custodian of a communications system. This greatly expands the number of entities that can be compelled to provide your communications to the FBI or another federal law enforcement entity without any cause to include data centers, co-location providers, co-working spaces, commercial landlords, libraries or hotels. It is a massive expansion of surveillance capacity.

In addition, FRRA maddeningly responds to the reports of lawless searches involving members of Congress by specifically providing notification and protections exclusively to members of Congress and not to us. This is appallingly elitist, undemocratic and frankly, disgusting. Civil and human rights are not dispensed according to job titles.

So right now and with no delay, we need to flood Congressional offices with the No to FRRA and yes to PLEWSA message. It is a strict either/or. One bill will progress to the Senate and one will die on the House floor. We need to make sure it is the right one!

This is not unwinnable. There is significant support for reforming Section 702 in both political parties (albeit for different reasons). But Congressional backbones are weak so they need pressure. Please take a moment to send an email or a tweet or both to your House rep right now (the vote could be any time this week) telling them NO to FRRA, YES to PLEWSA.

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Your Congressperson

Subject: No To Expanding Warrantless Surveillance, No to H.R. 6611

Message:

I am writing to ask you urgently to oppose H.R. 6611, the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act because it does not reform Section 702, but instead expands warrantless surveillance. H.R. 6611 vastly widens the scope of businesses and entities who are compelled to give the government access to their systems, without a warrant and with a gag order, including a wide range of custodians like data centers, colocation providers, commerical property landlords, libraries, and hotels. Section 504 of H.R. 6611 broadens the definition of electronic communication service providers to give the government access without probable cause or due process to basically any communications system in America when one side of the communication is outside the country. This is a wide, sweeping and breathtaking expansion of existing powers. Moreover, the FRRA includes notification requirements to protect personal privacy for members of Congress, but not for other Americans. This is patently unfair and in a democratic society, those who serve in a particular role are not, and should not be, granted protections not available to their constituents. Civil and human rights are not dependent on job titles. This bill is a deeply twisted response to the declassified FISC opinion detailing years of abuse, including over a quarter of a million patently illegal searches - unlawful actions that are still occurring as many as 20 times a day - targeting elected officials, political donors and Americans protesting the actions of their government and asking for policy changes. FRRA is a betrayal of the millions of Americans, from all walks of life, demanding surveillance reform now. A reasonable bill responding to the history of abuse is on the table, H.R. 6570, the Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act (PLEWSA), but it cannot move ahead unless the FRRA is defeated. Support PLEWSA and oppose FRRA.

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URGENT: NO TO EXPANDING WARRANTLESS SURVEILLANCE, NO TO H.R. 6611

Thank you for taking action.

Thank you for taking action.