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BREN NAN October 2023
CENTER
FOR JUSTICE
PFCLOB Report on FISA Sect i 702: In the PCLOB' Words
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent agency charged with ensuring that
the federal government's counterterrorism efforts respect Americans' rights, recently released a
report on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The controversial law, which
expires at the end of this year, allows intelligence agencies to perform warrantless backdoor
searches for Americans' private communications. Below are some of the PCLOB's most important
observations and conclusions about the impact of Section 702 on Americans' privacy.
On the nature of Americans' communications that are incidentaljy collected:
Americans' communications captured through surveillance can include discussions
of political and religious views, personal financial information, mental and physical
health information, and other sensitive data. Moreover, ordinary Americans may be in
contact with Section 702 targets for business or personal reasons even if the Americans
have no connection to, or reason to suspect, any wrongdoing by their foreign contacts
and even when the government has no reason to believe the target has violated any U.S. law
or engaged in any wrongdoing.
On the privagy risks and abuses of U.S. person queries:
The collection and examination of U.S. persons' communications represents a privacy
intrusion even in the absence of misuse for improper ends.
The government may use Section 702 information in criminal prosecutions including
prosecutions unrelated to the purpose of the original targeting.
FBI has treated Section 702 databases essentially as a search engine for routine use.
[T]here have been several examples where oversight mechanisms have identified
incidents involving improper intent in seeking to circumvent or violate the
procedures, related rules, or statutory requirements.
In the reporting period of November 2020 to December 2021, non-compliant queries
related to civil unrest numbered in the tens of thousands.
* The Board recognizes and welcomes the fact that the FBI has recently implemented several
reforms designed to improve compliance, but these changes have not been sufficient to
protect privacy and civil liberties.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.brennan/pclbrtofs0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)