2LT International News

Edward Snowden has issued a stark warning about legislation that will go before the U.S. Senate this week.

“The NSA (National Security Agency) is just days away from taking over the internet,” he says.

Snowden, a former intelligence agency contractor, who in 2013 famously blew the whistle on massive illegal surveillance programs being operated worldwide by the NSA and Five Eyes, says the pending U.S. legislation should be on the front page of every newspaper, but it isn’t.

“If you work at a U.S. tech firm, this bill could transform your whole company into a spy machine-whether you like it or not-and will be voted on in days. There needs to be lobbying to kill this thing. This is what a red alert looks like,” Snowden posted on X on Monday night.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation has also weighed in. “This is a real emergency for press (and everyone else’s) freedom. The bill would hand intel agencies countless new ways to surveil journalists and their sources by commandeering ordinary Americans and businesses as government spies,” the foundation posted on X.

Section 702 reauthorization bill (RISAA) was passed by the House of Representatives on Friday. “This bill represents one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history. I will do everything in my power to stop it from passing in the Senate,” Oregon Senator Ron Wyden said Saturday.

Elizabeth Goitein, Co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, posted a series of posts on X on Monday night warning of the ramifications if the bill is passed by the Senate this week and becomes law. “This is the most important thread you will read this year,” Snowden said.

“l’ll explain how this new power works. Under current law, the government can compel “electronic communications service providers” that have direct access to communications to assist the NSA in conducting Section 702 surveillance,” Goitein explains in her thread of posts.

“In practice, that means companies like Verizon and Google must turn over the communications of the targets of Section 702 surveillance. (The targets must be foreigners overseas, although the communications can-and do-include communications with Americans).”

“Through a seemingly innocuous change to the definition of ‘electronic communications surveillance provider,’ an amendment offered by House intel committee (HPSCI) leaders and passed by the House vastly expands the universe of entities that can be compelled to assist the NSA,” Goitein says.

“If the bill becomes law, any company or individual that provides ANY service whatsoever may be forced to assist in NSA surveillance, as long as they have access to equipment on which communications are transmitted or stored-such as routers, servers, cell towers, etc.,”

“That sweeps in an enormous range of U.S. businesses that provide wifi to their customers and therefore have access to equipment on which communications transit. Barber shops, laundromats, fitness centers, hardware stores, dentist’s offices the list goes on and on,” says Goitein.

“It also includes commercial landlords that rent out the office space where tens of millions of Americans go to work every day-offices of journalists, lawyers, nonprofits, financial advisors, health care providers, and more.”

“When the amendment was first unveiled, one of the FISA Court amici took the highly unusual step of sounding a public alarm. Civil liberties advocates noted that the provision would encompass hotels, libraries, and coffee shops,” Goitein said.

“The version HPSCI leaders offered Friday therefore exempts hotels, library shops, and coffee shops, plus a handful of other establishments. But as the FISA Court amicus promptly pointed out, the vast majority of U.S. businesses remain fair game.”

“The amendment even extends to service providers who come into our homes. House cleaners, plumbers, people performing repairs, and IT services providers have access to laptops and routers inside our homes and could be forced to serve as surrogate spies,” Goitein explained.

“None of these people or businesses would be allowed to tell anyone about the assistance they were compelled to provide. They would be under a gag order, and they would face heavy penalties if they failed to comply with it.”

“That’s not even the worst part,” says Goitein. “Unlike Google and Verizon, most of these businesses and individuals lack the ability to isolate and turn over a target’s communications. So they would be required to give the NSA access to the equipment itself or to use techniques or devices (presumably provided by the NSA) to copy and turn over entire communications streams and/or repositories of stored communications, which would inevitably include vast quantities of wholly domestic communications.”

“The NSA, having wholesale access to domestic communications on an unprecedented scale, would then be on the “honor system” to pull out and retain only the communications of approved foreign targets. (Let that sink in),” Goitein posted.

“HPSCI leaders deny that the administration has any intent to use this provision so broadly. Supposedly, there is a single type of service provider that the government wants to rope in. But they didn’t want anyone to know what that service provider was so they hid the real goal by writing the amendment as broadly and vaguely as possible. But no worries, Americans! The administration isn’t actually going to USE all the power it just persuaded the House to give it.”

“I cannot overstate how mindblowingly irresponsible that is. I don’t think *any* administration should be trusted with an Orwellian power like this one. But even if *this* administration doesn’t plan to make full use of it (Go ahead and fill in the blank),” said Goitein

“There are certain powers a government should not have in a democracy. The ability to force ordinary businesses and individuals to serve as surrogate spies is one of them. Even if the targets are supposed to be foreigners, a power this sweeping WILL be abused.”

“The Senate MUST stop this train before it is too late. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the House-passed bill this week. If there’s an opportunity to remove this provision, senators should remove it. If not, they should vote against the bill,” said Goitein.

“The White House will tell senators they have no choice other than to pass the House bill, because Section 702 expires on April 19, and trying to fix the House bill-or pass different legislation-would take too long. But the April 19 deadline exists only on paper.”

“The administration has already obtained FISA Court approval to continue Section 702 surveillance until April 2025. According to the administration itself, that approval “grandfathers” surveillance for a full year, even if Section 702 expires,” explained Goitein.

“A notional deadline is no reason to create a surveillance state. The Senate must take the time to get this right. It’s not just our civil liberties that are at stake-it’s our democracy,” she said.