October 6, 2020

What to Understand About Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and Your Loss of Privacy Rights

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows the US government to collect foreign intelligence information involving communications with “agents of foreign powers.” Dan Arel breaks down FISA and how it allows government agencies to access your browser and search history.

Dan Arel is a privacy and digital rights activist, founder and curator of ThinkPrivacy.ch, as well as an award-winning journalist, and best-selling author. His work has appeared in the Huff Post, OpenSource, Hacker Noon, Time Magazine, and more. You can follow him on Twitter @danarel.

After the passing of the Patriot Act in 2001, we have seen the erosion of privacy rights and civil liberties in the US. Every few years, parts of the act are supposed to expire as they should be deemed unnecessary with rights returned to citizens.

The truth is though, once you give away your rights, you never really get them back. The Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) are living proof of this. And this year, we saw just how dangerous this can be.

In May of this year, the Senate sought to reauthorize lapsed surveillance powers under FISA, specifically Section 215. It states the government can compel phone companies and internet service providers to turn over user data if federal agencies believe the data could be relevant to a terrorism or counterespionage case. Both terms are loosely defined to make such cases so vague, they can request just about any data they want.

This fear was shared by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) when he said on the Senate floor if law-abiding Americans had anything to worry about.

“The typical American may think to themselves, I’ve got nothing to worry about. I’ve done nothing wrong. The government has no reason to suspect me of anything. Why should I worry?” Wyden said. “Unfortunately, the question is not whether you did anything wrong. The question is whether a government agent believes they have the right to look at your web searches.”

He continued, “the warrantless collection of Americans’ web browsing history, offers endless opportunities for abuse.”

This fear was realized when an amendment he brought forward with other Senators to the FISA reauthorization was voted down. This amendment would have removed “internet website browsing information and search history from scope of authority to access certain business records for foreign intelligence and international terrorism investigations.”

With the failure of such an amendment and the reauthorization of the lapsed surveillance powers of FISA, the US government and its agencies can access your browser and search history with nothing more than suspicion you could be breaking the law. Exactly what Sen. Wyden was worried about. It’s not if you’re doing something wrong, but if that particular agency or even agent believes you may have.

While this may seem far-fetched to some, we have seen such abuses of power in authoritarian countries that seek to silence dissent and monitor opposing political parties or political activists.

This is why internet privacy is so important. Using a privacy respecting search engine like Startpage protects your search history which is no one’s business but your own. It’s not about if you are law-abiding. It’s because privacy is a human right and no governing body is above human rights.

When those Senators voted to remove the amendment and ensure federal agencies have access to your browsing history, it was the end of those rights existing again.

Thankfully, there’s plenty you can to protect your privacy on your own. Using Startpage is a start, but also blocking trackers in your browser, running a VPN, or using Tor browser or Anonymous View.

You can also encrypt your messages and your emails.

As I wrote previously about great privacy-respecting laws, we know laws can change. A great privacy law today could change tomorrow. Look at how quickly we saw privacy in the US evaporate following the horrific attacks on 9/11.

Using these privacy tools, we can search and communicate smarter and without the worry that corporations or state-actors are able to look over our shoulders.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Startpage.

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