Wyden's Reform Bill Would Also Deter Misuse Of NSA Powers To Compel Tech Company Assistance
from the not-just-backdoors dept
Sen. Ron Wyden is again raising concerns about NSA tactics, this time through his recently-submitted Section 702 reform bill. The USA RIGHTS Act contains a number of improvements, including addressing backdoor searches of NSA data by federal agencies and increasing the reporting requirements for access of US persons communications and data. It also permabans the NSA's "about" collection -- one it shut down voluntarily after years of misuse but recently expressed an interest in restarting.
There's another form of surveillance being eyed by Wyden's bill: technical assistance. Marcy Wheeler points out some of the limitations imposed by the bill, which appear to target compelled assistance by tech companies.
(B) LIMITATIONS.—The Attorney General or the Director of National Intelligence may not request assistance from an electronic communication service provider under subparagraph (A) without demonstrating, to the satisfaction of the Court, that the assistance sought—
(i) is necessary;
(ii) is narrowly tailored to the surveillance at issue; and
(iii) would not pose an undue burden on the electronic communication service provider or its customers who are not an intended target of the surveillance.
This could refer to FISA-enabled pressure to backdoor encryption or allow the NSA to otherwise compromise hardware and software. And it may be Wyden's way of sending out a heads up to the general public.
This suggests that Wyden is concerned the government might use — or has used — FISA to make sweeping onerous technical demands of companies without explicitly explaining what those demands are to the Court.
No one should be surprised the government is -- or intends to -- use the FISA court to compel compliance. This is another tool it has at its disposal, going hand-in-hand with All Writs orders to cover government requests not explicitly allowed by existing law. As we saw in the government's most famous All Writs case -- its legal battle with Apple over the contents of the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone -- these expansive orders predicated on a 1789 law still have their limits. As more companies fight back against government overreach, the NSA will need to keep its options open if it hopes to compel compliance.
But if it's going to do this, it needs to be on the record. This is what Wyden's bill would do: force the NSA (and other IC agencies) to detail their plans for compelled assistance and seek explicit approval for these actions from the court.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: all writs act, compelled assistance, nsa, ron wyden, surveillance, usa rights act
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
a) claims their servers were mysteriously wiped and/or have errors, or that they just can't find the data, or any number of stonewalling tactics like happens with the FOIA,
b) uses a 'secret interpretation' of the law to justify doing whatever the heck they want,
c) just straight up ignores the law and engages in double-secret spying?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
You start to see why MyNameHere has such a bone to pick with Wyden...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
and this is why it will fail, given the number of ankle-grabbing senators there are who will do whatever the security services tell them to do, regardless of the lack of assistance to 'National Security'. these bills are all about government overreach and protecting the public. those who oppose are about gaining as much information about the public, USA and elsewhere and stopping everyone from finding out exactly what shit the security services are actually doing!
any country in Europe come to mind?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Please stop calling FISA a court
FISA is a government office where a government official rubberstamps applications made by other government offices, typically in secret. Due to a track record of no application ever being rejected, no appeals needed. NOT A COURT.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Waste of time
Think about AT&T and Verizon, and their special rooms for the government snooping.
[ link to this | view in thread ]