BLUF: The latest unsealed order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court detailing FBI violations of Americans’ privacy, including searches without a warrant of internet communications involving sensitive people, demonstrates the urgent need for Section 702 of FISA to be ended or reformed, as the court’s treatment of backdoor searches undermines the Fourth Amendment’s right to privacy.
The article describes the FISC’s dismissal of the Second Circuit’s Hasbajrami opinion, which established that each backdoor search was a separate Fourth Amendment event and raised questions about the constitutional validity of backdoor searches. Despite an extensive record of backdoor searches, the FISC disagreed that each of these searches should be viewed separately. This rejection makes a mockery of the right to privacy and is clear evidence that Section 702 needs to be reformed to balance national security and individual rights.