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<\/a><\/p>\nBy\u00a0Rachel Blevins<\/p>\n
After 9\/11, the United States government preyed on the fear felt by many Americans to justify the passage of the USA Patriot Act\u2014a law that was supposed to prevent future terrorist attacks. Now, after the Las Vegas shooting, the government has another proposed law ready to go, and just as with the Patriot Act, it also infringes on Americans\u2019 liberties, and does very little for their security.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0USA Liberty Act<\/a>\u00a0is the latest trendy name for a law that would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2017. According to the House Judiciary Committee, the act would preserve \u201cthe core purpose of Section 702: the collection of electronic communications by non-U.S. persons for use in our nation\u2019s defense.\u201d<\/p>\n However, it should be noted that while the purpose of FISA was reportedly only to allow surveillance on the communications of foreign targets who were suspected terrorists, it has been used to spy on the communications of innocent Americans\u2014despite the practice being\u00a0ruled illegal<\/a>\u2014and any reauthorization of the law will only allow the practice to continue under the guise of \u201cpreventing terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n The USA Liberty Act claims that it will \u201cbetter protect Americans\u2019 privacy\u201d by requiring the government to have \u201ca legitimate national security purpose\u201d before searching an individual\u2019s database. Then when they do have that purpose established, they will be required to \u201cobtain a court order based on probable cause to look at the content of communications, except when lives or safety are threatened, or a previous probable cause-based court order or warrant has been granted.\u201d<\/p>\n But what the USA Liberty Act does not advertise is the fact that it does not actually address the legitimate problems that exist with Section 702. The FBI\u2019s \u201clegitimate national security purpose\u201d could be justified by just about any reason the agency chooses to give, and agents will only need supervisory authority in order to search Americans\u2019 metadata.<\/p>\n One of the most important things to remember about Section 702 is that, as the Constitution Project\u00a0noted<\/a>, it gives domestic law enforcement agencies access to the data seized by the NSA, while allowing the NSA to \u201cretain and disseminate Americans\u2019 communications that may contain any evidence of any crime.\u201d<\/p>\n In a\u00a0press release<\/a>\u00a0on the new act, the House Judiciary Committee bragged about the \u201cbipartisan success\u201d of the USA Freedom Act in June 2015, claiming that it \u201cended the bulk collection of data, protected civil liberties and national security, and provided robust oversight and transparency of our vital national security tools.\u201d<\/p>\n