POGO Applauds House For Rejecting Warrantless Mass Surveillance

Washington, D.C. — In response to the House vote to reject reauthorization of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) without reform, Don Bell, policy counsel at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), issued the following statement:

“Last night’s decision by a bipartisan majority of the House to reject this attempt to reauthorize section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act without changes to the law’s dangerous provisions is an enormous win for our Constitution and for the American people.

“Now, Congress must take this opportunity to pass much-needed reforms to rein in mass surveillance. Our representatives in Congress must ensure that any reauthorization of FISA includes provisions that ban government agencies from purchasing Americans’ personal data from data brokers without getting a warrant.

“The Fourth Amendment is not optional. For too long, executive agencies have been taking advantage of Congress’s failure to keep up with technological advances that make surveillance more dangerous than ever. Right now, the government can buy our data without a warrant. This “data broker loophole” endangers all of our privacy rights.

“The path forward is clear: If government agencies want to access our most sensitive data, they need to get a warrant.”