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Apple, Alphabet and Meta are lobbying to curtail a tool that gives intelligence agencies the right to collect and access the personal information of US citizens.
Big Tech is trying to change the way Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) works before Congress tries to renew the law before the end of the year. Specifically, Section 702 allows government agencies to require data — such as phone records, text messages, and emails — from companies for national security investigations.
While intelligence agencies say Section 702 is an essential tool to fight terrorism, US officials have acknowledged there have been “compliance incidents” about how it has been used to obtain information, Bloomberg points out.
However, those agencies have said reforms have been put in place to prevent such abuses.
FBI Director Christopher Wray notes that searches on Section 702 databases are down 93% between 2021 and 2022.
Still, tech companies and activists have good reason to try to limit Section 702. Many companies suffered severe setbacks after Edward Snowden exposed their involvement with intelligence agencies.
Specifically, they hope to be given the opportunity to disclose how often they are asked to provide information under Section 702 and what type of data they are expected to hand over.
Big Tech also hopes to prevent intelligence agencies from using the information and instead require a warrant before agencies can search the Section 702 database for information on US citizens.
There has been support for limiting Section 702 by both Republicans and Democrats. Representative Darin LaHood, an Illinois Republican, has publicly said that “a pure statutory reauthorization of 702 is a non-starter.”
Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, has stated, “We must take this opportunity to reform Section 702 and review privacy protections for Americans.”
In the first half of 2020 alone, Apple had received 4,177 “account requests” from government agencies, overall, involving 40,641 people. In the US, police and spy agencies can legally obtain material such as emails and iCloud backups, as long as it can be decrypted.