A “FISA” act will soon be voted on in the Senate that contains draconian new provisions requiring the cooperation of commercial landlords and others to engage in warrantless spying on supposedly only non-Americans, however loopholes in the law will allow such spying to be used on U.S. citizens as well.

— Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was enacted to make it easier for the government to address foreign terrorist threats, where it gives the government authority to surveil non-Americans abroad, and targeting Americans is technically prohibited.  However, intelligence agencies use loopholes to turn the act into a domestic spying authority, where they conduct hundreds of thousands of warrantless “backdoor” searches of the private communications of Americans every year.

— This week, the act is going to be reauthorized in the Senate, however it now includes a provision that forces any company or individual that provides any communications service to cooperate with the surveillance that the NSA conducts, with only a few exceptions.

— Elizabeth Goiter of the Brennan Center for Justice has been sounding the alarm about the situation in Tweets. (link)

— Previously, the act required companies such as Verizon and Google to turn over the communication of targets of surveillance, which technically was limited to foreigners, however the practice has been abused due to loopholes which also enables the surveillance of U.S. citizens.

— An amendment to the bill by House Intel Committee (HPSCI) leaders that was passed by the House has changed the definition of “electronic communications service provider,” where it vastly expands the definition of entities that can be forced to cooperate with the NSA.

— If the bill becomes law, almost any company or individual that provides any service whatsoever can be forced to assist the NSA with its surveillance, as long as they have access to equipment that is used to transmit the communication of the target.

— The new law would at least exempt requiring the cooperation of hotels, libraries, coffee shops, and a handful of other types of establishments, however the vast majority of other U.S. businesses remain fair game, including barber shops, laundromats, fitness centers, hardware stores, and any other small businesses that provides WiFi to their customers.

— The law would require the cooperation of commercial landlords that rent offices to businesses, which would enable the NSA to target journalists, lawyers, financial advisers, health care providers, and anyone else who rents commercial office space.

— Even more ridiculously, the amendment includes service providers who would come into people’s homes, such as house cleaners, plumbers, people performing repairs, and IT service providers who have access to laptops and routers inside the homes.

— None of the above people or businesses would be allowed to tell anyone about the assistance that they are compelled to provide, where they would be under a gag order and face heavy penalties if they failed to comply.

— The NSA would be on an “honor system" where supposedly they would only retain the communications of approved “foreign” targets, however past experience shows that they cannot be trusted to do only that.

— The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill this week, as the previous Section 702 expires on April 19.  However the Biden Administration has obtained FISA court approval to continue section 702 surveillance until April of 2025.

— Call your senators now and tell them to block the “everyone is a spy” surveillance bill. (link)


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Following is a list of House Republicans who voted in favor of the bill:


Alabama — Aderholt
Alabama — Carl
Alabama — Rogers
Alabama — Strong

Arizona — Ciscomani

Arkansas — Crawford
Arkansas — Hill
Arkansas — Womack

California — Calvert
California — Duarte
California — Garcia, Mike
California — Kim
California — Kiley
California — Obernolte
California — Steel
California — Valadao

Colorado — Lamborn

Florida — Buchanan
Florida — Diaz-Balart
Florida — Dunn
Florida — Franklin, Scott
Florida — Gimenez
Florida — Lee
Florida — Rutherford
Florida — Salazar
Florida — Waltz

Georgia — Allen
Georgia — Carter
Georgia — Ferguson
Georgia — Scott, Austin

Idaho — Simpson

Illinois — LaHood

Indiana — Bucshon
Indiana — Houchin

Iowa — Feenstra
Iowa — Hinson
Iowa — Miller-Meeks
Iowa — Nunn

Kansas — Estes
Kansas — LaTurner

Kentucky — Barr
Kentucky — Guthrie
Kentucky — Rogers

Louisiana — Graves
Louisiana — Scalise

Michigan — Bergman
Michigan — Huizenga
Michigan — James
Michigan — McClain
Michigan — Moolenaar
Michigan — Walberg

Minnesota — Emmer
Minnesota — Stauber

Mississippi — Ezell
Mississippi — Guest
Mississippi — Kelly

Missouri — Graves
Missouri — Wagner

Nebraska — Bacon
Nebraska — Flood
Nebraska — Smith

Nevada — Amodei

New Jersey — Kean

New York — Garbarino
New York — LaLota
New York — Lawler
New York — Malliotakis
New York — Molinaro
New York — Stefanik
New York — Tenney
New York — Williams

North Carolina — Edwards
North Carolina — Foxx
North Carolina — McHenry
North Carolina — Murphy
North Carolina — Rouzer

Ohio — Balderson
Ohio — Carey
Ohio — Latta
Ohio — Miller
Ohio — Turner
Ohio — Wenstrup

Oklahoma — Bice
Oklahoma — Cole
Oklahoma — Lucas

Oregon — Chavez-DeRemer

Pennsylvania — Fitzpatrick
Pennsylvania — Kelly
Pennsylvania — Meuser
Pennsylvania — Reschenthaler
Pennsylvania — Smucker
Pennsylvania — Thompson

South Carolina — Wilson

South Dakota — Johnson

Tennessee — Fleischmann
Tennessee — Green

Texas — Burgess
Texas — Babin
Texas — Carter
Texas — Crenshaw
Texas — De La Cruz
Texas — Ellzey
Texas — Gonzales, Tony
Texas — Jackson
Texas — Moran
Texas — Pfluger
Texas — Sessions
Texas — Van Duyne

Utah — Moore

Virginia — Kiggans
Virginia — Wittman

Washington — Rodgers
Washington — Newhouse

West Virginia — Miller

Wisconsin — Grothman
Wisconsin — Gallagher
Wisconsin — Steil