The House passed the Fourth Amendment Ban Act on Wednesday, boosting morale for digital privacy advocates, while the Senate gears up for a fight over a broader extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. ing.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) and a bipartisan group of seven co-sponsors, passed 219-199. This allows law enforcement and intelligence agencies to purchase personal information about customers and subscribers of electronic and remote computing service providers, such as social media, mobile phone, email, and cloud computing companies, without obtaining a court order. It is prohibited to do so.
The bill would require a coalition of 123 Republicans to join 93 Democrats, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). We worked together to get the bill passed in the Senate.
Privacy advocates welcomed the bill's passage, arguing that the government's purchase of large amounts of personal information through commercial companies and third-party data aggregators would mean the end of the Fourth Amendment.
“The bipartisan passage of this bill sends a flashback to the government that if it wants our data, it has to get a warrant,” Kia Hamadanchy, senior federal policy adviser at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. It's a warning sign.” “We hope this vote ignites the Senate to protect voters and curb the government’s warrantless surveillance of Americans once and for all.”
The Section 702 reauthorization measure previously approved by the House Judiciary Committee included the Data Broker Act in its text. Johnson chose to move forward with the House Intelligence Committee-approved Section 702 reauthorization bill, which excluded it and prevented the “Fourth Amendment Not-for-Sale Act” from being attached to the bill by floor amendment. . When lawmakers revolted against Bill 702, Johnson was able to restart debate by promising that the Fourth Amendment Not for Sale Act would receive a single floor vote.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the sponsor of a companion bill in the Senate, immediately urged his colleagues to quickly pass the bill.
“This is a huge victory for privacy, and now it’s time for the Senate to follow suit,” Wyden said. Said At X.
Despite the festivities, the bill faces an uncertain future due to strong opposition to it on the floor and in the White House.
In a call with reporters this week, senior administration officials called the bill “unworkable” and “devastating” to homeland security. Among the criticisms are that the definition of third party is too broad, that government agencies cannot confirm whether the datasets they purchase contain the data of interest before purchase, and that the government's This included the fact that the ability to “prevent” was inhibited. ” and remove malicious botnets.
“In reality, these criteria [intelligence community] or to obtain a plethora of readily available information that law enforcement currently relies on,” the official said.