NSA Surveillance and Section 702 of FISA: 2024 in Review
Mass surveillance authority Section 702 of FISA, which allows the government to collect international communications, many of which happen to have one side in the United States, has been renewed several times since its creation with the passage of the 2008 FISA Amendments Act. This law has been an incessant threat to privacy for over a decade because the FBI operates on the “finders keepers” rule of surveillance which means that it thinks because the NSA has “incidentally” collected the US-side of conversations it is not free to sift through them without a warrant.
But 2024 became the year this mass surveillance authority was not only reauthorized by a lion’s share of both Democrats and Republicans—it was also the year the law got worse.
After a tense fight, some temporary reauthorizations, and a looming expiration, Congress finally passed the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA) in April, 20204. RISAA not only reauthorized the mass surveillance capabilities of Section 702 without any of the necessary reforms that had been floated in previous bills, it also enhanced its powers by expanding what it can be used for and who has to adhere to the government’s requests for data.
Where Section 702 was enacted under the guise of targeting people not on U.S. soil to assist with national security investigations, there are not such narrow limits on the use of communications acquired under the mass surveillance law. Following the passage of RISAA, this private information can now be used to vet immigration and asylum seekers and conduct intelligence for broadly construed “counter narcotics” purposes.
The bill also included an expanded definition of “Electronic Communications Service Provider” or ECSP. Under Section 702, anyone who oversees the storage or transmission of electronic communications—be it emails, text messages, or other online data—must cooperate with the federal government’s requests to hand over data. Under expanded definitions of ECSP there are intense and well-realized fears that anyone who hosts servers, websites, or provides internet to customers—or even just people who work in the same building as these providers—might be forced to become a tool of the surveillance state. As of December 2024, the fight is still on in Congress to clarify, narrow, and reform the definition of ECSP.
The one merciful change that occurred as a result of the 2024 smackdown over Section 702’s renewal was that it only lasts two years. That means in Spring 2026 we have to be ready to fight again to bring meaningful change, transparency, and restriction to Big Brother’s favorite law.
This article is part of our Year in Review series. Read other articles about the fight for digital rights in 2024.
