US Foreign Data Collection Program Needs Scrutiny, Watchdog Told

Academics and digital rights advocates pressed a surveillance oversight board to step up its scrutiny of a program that lets the US government collect communications such as emails, messages, and phone calls in search of foreign intelligence.

The communications collection authority stems from Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. If not extended by Congress, that is scheduled to expire at the end of 2023. The US Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent agency within the executive branch, is reviewing this kind of FISA surveillance to inform an anticipated policy debate over renewal of its legal authorization. ...