Spies might be made out of regular employees at US companies if the recently proposed and approved legislation by the House Intelligence Committee greatly expands the federal government's surveillance powers, experts warn.
Section 702 was enacted to empower the National Security Agency to intercept data related to suspected terrorists abroad. Such surveillance has resulted in the widespread acquisition of domestic data as well.
Without a warrant, agencies such as the FBI used data gathered under 702 to target Americans.
Rep. Mike Turner and Rep. Jim Himes introduced the bill, which was approved by committee on December 7.
Currently, Section 702 allows the government to compel businesses with direct access to communications-like emails, phone calls, or texts-to share data.
Goitein notes that under Section 504 of the HPSCI bill, any organisation having access to devices that store or transfer communications would likewise have to abide by requests for surveillance.
Goitein went on to say that even a repairman trying to fix your home internet router might be forced into spying on you.
The bill's advocates have vehemently denied that Section 504 would be enforced so loosely.
Senator Mike Lee even criticised the bill on his meme account.
Goitein claims that despite the sponsors of the bill's assurances, the government's past performance shows that it cannot be trusted with such authority.
This Cyber News was published on www.cysecurity.news. Publication date: Thu, 14 Dec 2023 15:13:08 +0000