Overview
- - House Republican leaders released a three-year Section 702 reauthorization on Thursday that omits a warrant requirement and adds audits, penalties, and new reporting ahead of an April 30 expiration.
- - Section 702 lets the government collect foreigners’ messages overseas, yet it also captures Americans’ communications that the FBI can later search without a court order, a practice known as backdoor searches.
- - Conservative holdouts escalated their push for stricter limits as Reps. Lauren Boebert and Thomas Massie introduced the Surveillance Accountability Act on Thursday to require warrants and allow people to sue over violations.
- - The House Rules Committee is set to take up the bill Monday, and leaders may need some Democratic votes as Freedom Caucus members resist and key Democrats say any deal must add stronger privacy safeguards.
- - The Senate prepared its own vehicle for a three-year extension next week, and privacy advocates warn that government purchases of Americans’ data from brokers and new AI tools could deepen risks if warrantless queries continue.