Approval has been given by the Senate to legislation that would extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for another two years, which headed to the desk of President Joe Biden just minutes after the surveillance law expired, reports CyberScoop.
The bill's inclusion of required FBI supervisor or attorney approvals of Section 702 queries regarding U.S. person identifiers has been noted by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to be the "most robust set of reforms" to Section 702 reauthorization legislation.
However, such measures continue to be inadequate, with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and privacy advocates citing concerns regarding the expanded definition of "electronic communication service providers."
"Senators were aware of the threat this surveillance bill posed to our civil liberties and pushed it through anyway, promising they would attempt to address some of the most heinous expansions in the near future. We will do everything in our power to ensure that these promises are kept," said the American Civil Liberties Union in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
