Campaign for Liberty joins collation against new pro-surveillance bills

The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader

The Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader

Dear Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Reid:

We the undersigned companies, industry and trade groups, and civil society organizations write in opposition to the drafted FISA Improvements Act of 2015 and the FISA Reform Act of 2015, proposals that fail to properly address overbroad surveillance activities, and would weaken privacy, civil liberties, and the digital economy.

Both bills contain flaws and omissions that are incompatible with the goal of stopping domestic bulk collection.  The bills require that collection be based on “specific selection terms” but define these terms so broadly as to raise serious concern as to whether they would significantly curtail the government’s ability to collect large amounts of information of individuals with no nexus to terrorism.  Furthermore, the bills do not require any public disclosure of critical Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rulings that contain novel or significant interpretations of law. This would result in the establishment of even more secret law as the new requirements under these bills would be interpreted in classified settings, and surveillance programs implemented thereunder may again contravene to Congressional intent and public wishes.

Further, both bills authorize the government to impose a data retention mandate on private businesses, a privacy-threatening measure that is unnecessary and unacceptable.  As confirmed by the Director of National Intelligence and Attorney General this month, existing retention practices meet government needs, and do not raise security concerns.  A retention mandate would only serve to hinder innovation, decrease trust in communication and technology products and services, and raise significant information security concerns.

Finally, the FISA Improvements Act would permit domestic bulk collection by leaving unchanged the FISA Pen Register/Trap and Trace law, which was used for years to collect Internet metadata in bulk.  The bill explicitly leaves Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act unchanged for two years, despite recent public assurances by the NSA Director that a transition period longer than 180 days is not necessary. In addition to this, the bill contains provisions that weaken whistleblower protections, expand surveillance power by granting the FBI the authority to obtain electronic communication transaction records without a court order, and make permanent provisions of the PATRIOT Act that are currently tied to a sunset date.

Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act is set to expire at 12:00 am on June 1. No legislation has passed the Senate, despite a clear demand for surveillance reform. These proposals are unviable, ineffective, and do not offer a path forward.  We strongly urge against consideration of the FISA Improvements Act or the FISA Restoration and Reform Act.

Sincerely,

Access

Advocacy for Principled Action in Government

American Association of Law Libraries

American Booksellers for Free Expression

America Civil Liberties Union

American Library Association

Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee

Association of Research Libraries

Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Brennan Center for Justice

Campaign for Liberty

Center for Democracy & Technology

Computer & Communications Industry Association

The Constitution Project

Constitutional Alliance

Council on Islamic American Relations

CREDO

Cyber Privacy Project

Data Foundry, Inc.

Defending Dissent Foundation

Demand Progress

DownsizeDC.org

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Free Press Action Fund

Fight for the Future

FreedomWorks

Golden Frog, GmbH

Government Accountability Project

Gun Owners of America

Human Rights Watch

i2Coalition

Internet Archive

Media Alliance

Liberty Coalition

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

National Coalition Against Censorship

New America’s Open Technology Institute

The Niskanen Center

OpenMedia

OpenTheGovernment.org

Participatory Politics Foundation

Project on Government Oversight

R Street

Republican Liberty Caucus

Restore the Fourth

RootsAction.org

ServInt

Silent Circle

Sunlight Foundation

TechFreedom

Venture Politics

Draft available at https://cdt.org/files/2015/05/Burr-FISA-Improvements-Act-2015-Draft.pdf.

Draft available at https://cdt.org/files/2015/05/Feinstein-FISA-Reform-Act-Draft.pdf.

See, Letter from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Attorney General Loretta Lynch to Senators Leahy and Lee (May 11, 2015), available at https://cdt.org/files/2015/05/DNI-AG-USA-FREEDOM-2015-Support-Letter.pdf.

See, Letter from NSA Director Adm. Michael Rogers to Senate Leadership (May 20, 2015), available at https://josephhall.org/misc/Section-215-Transition-Letter-20May15.pdf.