Privacy & Freedom
Security and liberty both matter. You deserve to understand what powers the government has, what limits apply, and who checks them, in plain English.
Verified fact Existing law Proposal Concern / opinion
Each item is labeled. This page does not claim that all surveillance is illegal or that everyone is being monitored. Facts about current law are stated as of October 13, 2026, and can change.
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Much of our lives now lives on phones and servers: messages, locations, purchases, health information. I believe the principles of the Fourth Amendment should be taken seriously as technology changes, and that people deserve to know how their personal data can be collected, bought, shared, or searched.
Section 702 is part of Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), added by the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. It allows the government to acquire communications of non-U.S. persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States to obtain foreign intelligence information. It may not be used to intentionally target Americans or anyone in the United States. Communications of Americans can, however, be incidentally collected when they communicate with a foreign target, and that data may later be queried (searched) under certain rules.
Source: Congress.gov, S.4465 summary
In April 2024, Congress passed the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), H.R. 7888, which became law on April 20, 2024 (Public Law 118-49). It reauthorized Section 702 with a sunset in April 2026 and made changes to query procedures and oversight. It did not add a general warrant requirement for searching Americans' information.
As the April 2026 sunset approached, Congress passed short-term extensions. Public Law 119-87 (S.4465, enacted April 30, 2026) moved the repeal date to June 12, 2026. Congress did not pass a further extension by that date, and the statutory authority lapsed on June 12, 2026. Under the law's transition provisions, certifications approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before the lapse can continue until they expire. Public reporting and statements in the Congressional Record put that expiration at March 2027. As of this page's last update, we have not found a new reauthorization signed into law; check Congress.gov for the latest status.
Members of both parties have proposed different paths: a “clean” extension with no changes, longer extensions with modest reforms, and bills that would require a warrant before government agents search Section 702 data using an American's identifiers. These are proposals, not law.
Foreign intelligence collection serves real national-security purposes. My concern is with the safeguards. When government searches information about Americans, there should be clear legal limits, meaningful independent review, and enough public transparency for voters to judge whether those limits are working. Any expansion of these powers should be explained in plain English before a vote.
The FISC is a federal court created by FISA in 1978. Its judges review government applications for foreign-intelligence surveillance, including the annual Section 702 certifications and the procedures for targeting and handling data.
Source: fisc.uscourts.gov
The PCLOB is an independent, bipartisan agency within the executive branch that reviews counterterrorism programs to make sure they balance security with privacy and civil liberties. It has published public reports on Section 702.
Source: pclob.gov
Some national-security details must stay classified. But the rules, the number of searches, the mistakes, and the corrections can often be shared in a form that protects sources and methods. I support as much transparency as safety allows, and strong safeguards and penalties against misuse.
