Federal Agencies Routinely Spy On Phone Calls, Texts, Emails Of American Citizens, Experts Say

Despite the protections outlined in the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which explicitly prohibits warrantless government searches, it has become evident that U.S. agencies are increasingly intrusive in their surveillance of American citizens' speech and activities.

These agencies, often in collaboration with private companies and banks, have been misusing laws designed to counter foreign terrorism to collect and analyze the private data of millions of Americans without any warrant or evidence of criminal activity.

As Congress engages in debates regarding the reauthorization of relevant sections of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that are scheduled to expire, the Cato Institute, a libertarian organization, recently held a four-day conference featuring calls for significant legal reforms from speakers representing both conservative and liberal viewpoints.

During the conference, Jake Laperruque, a deputy director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, highlighted the magnitude and persistence of the violations observed. These violations go beyond mere accidental errors and include instances such as retrieving extensive lists of political donors without any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. Concerns were also raised about politically motivated surveillance targeting journalists, political commentators, and domestic political parties.

In response to the September 11 attacks, Congress passed the PATRIOT Act in 2001 to address the issue of foreign terrorism. Subsequently, in 2008, an amendment to FISA known as Section 702 was added, granting authorization for warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. individuals located outside the country. Critics argue that this amendment is the root cause of much of the abuse, and its expiration is scheduled for December 31.

Reports of abuse by the FBI and other federal intelligence agencies, misusing the surveillance authority granted by Section 702, have emerged just as congressional discussions on its renewal take place. Critics claim that there is mounting evidence suggesting federal agencies have conducted extensive, long-term domestic spying campaigns on U.S. citizens using laws initially intended to target foreign terrorists.

Elizabeth Goitein, a senior director at New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, emphasized that Congress implemented safeguards to prevent Section 702 from circumventing Fourth Amendment protections. These safeguards include requirements for minimizing the collection, sharing, and retention of Americans' personal information, as well as annual certification to the FISA court that Section 702 is not misused to access the communications of specific known Americans. However, it has become apparent that these safeguards are ineffective.

The Brennan Center for Justice report highlights that since 2006, the National Security Agency (NSA) has been secretly gathering phone records from millions of Americans through requests by the FBI to major telecommunications providers. Additionally, the report reveals that over the past six years, the NSA has gained unprecedented access to data processed by nine prominent U.S. internet companies through a computer network called PRISM. The companies involved include Google, Facebook, Skype, and Apple.

Nathan Wessler, a director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), discussed the emergence of data brokers during the Cato Institute conference. These brokers compile extensive databases of photo IDs and profit by selling them to law enforcement agencies. Companies are selling face recognition algorithms, utilizing state driver's license photos, arrest photos, and federal passport photos. Another company, ClearView AI, has amassed a database of 30 billion photos extracted from social media, employer websites, local newspapers, and other online sources. These databases provide the government with the unprecedented ability to instantaneously identify individuals and take action without adequate court oversight and often in secrecy.

Clare Garvie, counsel at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, emphasized that most individuals are present in numerous legacy photo data sets that have been rapidly transformed into biometric data sets. Law enforcement agencies have been collecting these biometric data sets since around 2001, and their collection has continued to expand over the years.