An independent U.S. government board on Thursday recommended that Congress make changes to a controversial foreign surveillance authority, concluding that the program is highly valuable in protecting national security but also creates “serious privacy and civil liberties risks.”
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board issued the 297-page report as the Biden administration seeks congressional reauthorization of the surveillance authority known as Section 702, which expires at the end of the year.
Section 702 allows the U.S. government to collect the digital communications of foreigners who are located outside the country. But some lawmakers from both parties have lambasted the breadth of the surveillance power and zeroed in on privacy concerns, such as how it allows U.S. authorities to run warrantless searches for information on Americans.
