Durbin should help stop surveillance expansion
Freedom of the Press Foundation
April 16, 2024
"File:Richard Durbin 180417-Z-CD688-026 (39716780750).jpg" by Chief National Guard Bureau from USA is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) founding Board Member John Cusack and Advocacy Director Seth Stern — both from the Chicago area — wrote to the Chicago Sun-Times to tell their senator, Dick Durbin, to stop the Senate from dramatically expanding government surveillance.
Cusack and Stern explain that:
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"Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act already allows the government to compel communications companies like Google and Verizon to turn over information. This terrible bill would expand that to any service provider with access to equipment like routers, and let the government order them to help it monitor communications.
That means virtually any vendor who enters your home, or any business you visit, could be forced to become an involuntary government agent. That should chill you to the bone."
They further noted the impact on journalists of the bill – called the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, or RISAA. Durbin, they wrote, has “led efforts to stop surveillance of journalists, including cosponsoring the PRESS Act. But the FISA bill (RISAA) would codify countless new ways to spy on reporters.”
Read the full letter here.