Tech Coalition Urges Goodlatte to Consider Reauthorization Changes to Section 702

A coalition of U.S. tech companies, including Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, is urging House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., to make changes to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act, which expires at the end of the year unless reauthorized. A Friday letter also signed by Computer & Communications Industry Association, the i2Coalition and Internet Association said reauthorization legislation should codify NSA termination of the "about" collection of the upstream program (see 1705010010 and 1704280062) "with the imprimatur of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to correct deficiencies that implicate the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens." Reauthorization should mandate judicial oversight for government queries of contents for communications of U.S. persons when they're not the target of surveillance, the coalition said. The letter urged more oversight and transparency of the program "to improve confidence in both its utility and lawfulness" such as allowing companies to disclose the number of requests for data they get from law enforcement and more declassification of FISC orders. The intelligence community should provide more information about how communications of U.S. persons incidentally collected are used, the coalition said. TechFreedom Executive Director Austin Carson said the changes would ensure surveillance concerns "don't prevent new innovations or startups on our shores -- or drive existing companies offshore." Access Now U.S. Policy Manager Amie Stepanovich blogged the coalition's proposed Section 702 changes could be a "significant first step" to drive the trans-Atlantic data sharing framework Privacy Shield through its first review (see 1704200034). She said the framework "urgently needs substantial reform to bring its data protection elements in line with E.U. law and ensure the proper level of protection for personal data."