Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI often misused a digital surveillance tool to exploit a restricted database of Americans’ personal communications, while checking up the names of crime victims and participants in Black Lives Matter protests and the 2021 Capitol assault, news agency AFP reported citing a newly unsealed court document.
The declassified rulings from the secretive Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court noted that the FBI accessed the database 278,000 times in recent years, frequently with no explanation. The database contains private emails, text messages, and other communications that the NSA claims it collects when snooping on foreigners.
The FBI can access the NSA database only when investigating a foreign intelligence issue, but court decisions show that they did so on a regular basis for domestic investigations.
The documents were made public as Congress mulls over renewing Section 702, a statute that permits the NSA to access US-hosted internet accounts in order to spy on foreign intelligence targets.
FBI officials say they have already resolved the issues, which they attribute to a misunderstanding between its employees and Justice Department lawyers about how to properly use a massive database known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Some lawmakers believe it should be revised to better protect Americans’ personal information. The intelligence agencies are concerned that this could impede their operations, but the legal experts and Democrats say the revelations demonstrate that reforms are required.
As quoted by AFP, Patrick Toomey of the Americans Civil Liberties Union: “The government has dramatically expanded its spying under Section 702 in ways never contemplated by Congress, but it’s refusing to tell Americans what it’s doing.”
Senator Ron Wyden, a vocal opponent of Section 702, claimed the intelligence court records revealed “shocking abuses” of the statute.
“If Section 702 is to be reauthorized, there must be statutory reforms to ensure that the checks and balances are in place to put an end to these abuses,” Wyden said.
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