Covering surveillance, war, and everything in between
Backdoor Search Fix is back on the floor! After a 5-year hiatus, Reps. Lofgren and Massie (and Jayapal, Davidson, Eshoo, and Spartz) are bringing back their hallmark reform aimed at stopping the use of Section 702 of FISA to warrantlessly search Americans’ communications. A coalition of 28 groups called for support here. The vote could be any minute!
Catholic newsletter used data-for-sale to pin a priest to Grindr. This is not good news…
Just in: Defense Approps requires declassification and release of significant FISA Court opinions, proving surveillance reformers don’t need to reauthorize mass surveillance to get reform (this was part of the package of reforms in the PATRIOT Act reauth from 2020).
A new big red surveillance flag: Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board member Travis LeBlanc made some big waves after joining a chorus of critics that panned as a “colossal disappointment”…
Biden’s new National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism triggers alarms because it doubles down on DHS’s controversial and ineffective community prevention strategies, critics say. A new report from the Brennan Center takes a deep dive into these strategies’ failures, including their inability to identify violent people, lack of empirical support, and disparate impacts. Cato’s Pat Eddington, meanwhile, notes that it’s “hard to imagine how the FBI and DHS could possibly provide more information to their” counterparts, another major focus of the strategy. There’s also some language that may point toward increased checkbook surveillance, and the MPD gang database story below doesn’t help things, either.
Hacked MPD emails show gang database has 6, 5, 3, 2, and <1-year-olds, among other problems, per a review by The Intercept…
Spying on journalists spark fears for free press and sources, with the newest writing on this coming from Eric Lichtblau, a target himself. The DOJ obtained his and three other NY Times reporters’ information in 2020 as part of an undisclosed leak investigation into their sources. The DOJ also sought their email records — a fight the Biden administration continued to wage. The Trump admin also seized email and phone records from WaPo and CNN. This longer take from our friends at the First Branch Forecast is also worth a read.
Sen. Wyden asked the DoD if it’s buying US internet activity and location records without a warrant — and got a classified response…
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New ODNI transparency report reveals other reports “highly misleading,” per this helpful deconstruction by POGO’s Jake Laperruque. Read together with a new FISA Court opinion that revealed dozens of previously undisclosed FBI searches of Section 702 foreign intelligence information for criminal information, the results are damning. Lapperruque also wrote about the FISC opinion at Just Security. Reminder: Section 702 is slated to sunset at the end of 2023. Among other things, the FBI has been fishing for information about community leaders and crime victims.
Reps. Biggs and Jordan demanded answers after that same opinion revealed “apparent widespread violations”…
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Just introduced: a bill to stop the government from buying location data, internet activity records, and more from data brokers. The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, a new bipartisan bill from dozens of lawmakers, would break the apparently blossoming relationship between intelligence and law enforcement agencies and the likes of Clearview.AI. Relatedly, earlier this year the Defense Intelligence Agency asserted it can buy bulk location data on people in the US.
Last week’s Yemen briefings left critical questions unanswered…
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Remember Trump’s lame duck $23 billion UAE arms sale? Biden has given it the green light. After conducting a review of the sale of advanced weaponry and aircraft to the United Arab Emirates, the Biden Administration has announced it will go forward with the sale despite serious reservations by civil society and lawmakers over UAE’s human rights record in Yemen and previous transfers of arms to malign groups in the region. The Forum on the Arms Trade has helpfully collected many opposing statements here.
Biden commits to withdrawing troops from Afghanistan …
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Dozens of organizations tell Congress to introduce a War Powers Resolution in response to Biden’s Syria strike. Yesterday, organizations spanning the ideological spectrum sent a letter to Congress urging an immediate introduction of a War Powers Resolution to rebuke the Biden Admin for its February 25 strike on targets in Syria, which was not authorized by Congress. The letter pushes back on Biden’s legal justification for the strike, warning that it could set a precedent to greatly expand unilateral executive military action in the future. Read Vox’s exclusive on the letter.
Surveillance Firm Hopes to Sell Access to Billions of Connected Cars’ Data to the US Government, per Vice …
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Biden’s Syria strike on shaky legal ground (at best), as experts continue to pick apart the administration’s confusing justification for military action against militia forces in a country the US is not at war with, aligned with a country that Congress passed a War Powers Resolution to prevent war with (Iran). We found these articles by Adil Ahmad Haque and Ryan Goodman insightful.
ICE using private utility database “covering millions,” …
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25 organizations say it’s time to repeal the blank checks for endless wars. In a letter to Congress yesterday, organizations from across the ideological spectrum called on legislators to sunset the 2001 Authorization of Military Force (AUMF) and immediately repeal the 2002 AUMF.
Prominent think tank with Biden Admin ties found to have ‘serious conflicts of interest.’ …
