A newsletter about #privacy, #technology, #policy, #strategy, and #justice.
Posts by @jdp23.
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It's National Library Week. We still care about your privacy at the library. The Library Freedom Project has a great set of resources to help you do things like:
- strip AI from your Gmail
- avoid digital scams
- understand Big Data
- reduce harm from doxxing
- using Signal as safely as possible
They're written in plain English and try to help you do things better acknowledging that there's no such thing as perfect privacy.
In a dramatic scene that unfolded in the wee hours this morning, members of the House defeated a ploy by the administration and Speaker Johnson to ram through a 5-year reauthorization of FISA Section 702. Here’s what happened, and what will/should happen next. 1/20
And this just in, Axios reports that the Senate passed the 10-day extension by voice vote. No surprises there ... this doesn't actually make any difference operationally, because the FISA court has already granted certifications for the next year. But, it lets everybody continue to play along with the fiction that the deadline is meaningful.
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/17/fisa-senate-vote-april-30-house-revolt
Politico has a good article on FISA as well.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/16/fisa-extension-trump-republicans-00878199
Punchbowl News has an unpaywalled story on FISA, with more specifics on the R's who voted against it, and some great quotes. For example:
"Led by Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.), top Democrat on the Rules Committee, Democrats blasted Johnson and Republican leaders for the proposed five-year FISA extension. After hours of private GOP-only meetings trying to broker a deal, Republican leaders had suddenly announced they were ready to vote. But some of the proposed FISA changes were hand-written into the bill text: “Does anybody actually know what the hell is in this thing?” McGovern complained.
“This is too damn important to do it this way,” McGovern added. “Your own members don’t know what the hell you’re doing … This process is embarrassing. This majority is incompetent.”
Embarassing indeed (although it's worth highlighting that the Dems have also done ridiculously sleazy garbage with FISA reauthorization over the years).
Here's coverage of the FISA drama last night. The articles largely focus on Republican dysfunction, and I can certainly see why ... still it's also worth highlighting what a great job civil society orgs like Free Press, CDT, Fight for the Future, and Indivisible -- and the "tripartite caucus" letter (from the chairs of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the and the Congressional Progressive Caucus) -- did at convincing Dems to almost completely hold the line despite the pressure for reauth from pro-surveilance Dems like Jim Hines.
To start with, here's Dell Cameron in Wired -- my go-to reporter on this issue.
https://www.wired.com/story/republican-mutiny-sinks-trumps-push-to-extend-warrantless-surveillance/
Wow!
The bad late-night amendment from the Republicans with a five-year extension went down 200-220 -- 12 Republicans and almost all the Democrats voted against it.
Then the procedural vote on the 18-month clean reauthorization failed 197-228; 20 Republicans voted no (good for them) and 4 Democrats voted yes (booooo).¹
And then they passed a 10-day extension by unanimous consent and adjourned until Monday, when we'll no doubt start another round or two of drama.
If you contacted your legislators ... thanks! Please contact them again, and either thank them if they voted no, express your disappointment if they voted yes, and let them know *no reauthorization without meaningful reforms.
And if you haven't contacted your legislators ... now's a good time! Here's a simple script:
"Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Your City, State]. I am calling to as [Representative Name] to vote NO on FISA Section 702 reauthorization unless there are meaningful reforms including closing the backdoor loophole, closing the data broker loophope, and introducing a real warrant requirement. Now more than ever in the era of mass AI, personal privacy and civil liberties must be protected.
The easiest thing to do is to call the House switchboard at 202-224-3121. Or, if you prefer, use @indivisibleteam's phone tool at https://indivisible.org/actions/tell-representatives-no-to-ai-warrantless-mass-surveillance/ -- or just call their office directly.
¹ Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Jared Golden (Maine), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), and Tom Suozzi (N.Y.) ... the usual suspects.
War on Terror-era legislation that authorized decades of civil liberties-eroding mass surveillance expires on April 19. Let your Representatives know you expect them to reject reauthorization without significant reforms to protect civil liberties.
@politico is reporting that GOP hardliners are threatening to tank the vote ... we shall see. Even if that happens though it's worth calling: there's likely to be another vote, and calling now -- in the middle of the night -- lets your Rep know you're tracking this issue and prioritizing it, so your next call is likely to be counted more seriously.
UPDATE: the amendment failed! Thanks everybody who boosted and called. Here's an update.
.....
In the usual FISA last-minute drama, Republicans dropped an amendment in the middle of the night and are scheduling the vote almost immediately. The reports I'm seeing are that the final vote potentially in a couple of hours (2:15 am eastern). The amendment has a fake warrant requirement; The Brennan Center's analysis says it actually broadens the use of FISA for criminal cases. And it's for a five-year reauthorization, so it's very very bad. Hopefully D's will all oppose it (and hard-core R's like Massie are likely to as well) ... but you never know/
Staffers are working late too and it's possible that they're checking messages -- or at least getting a report on the number of calls. So if you're in the US (or a US citizen overseas) please call your representative ASAP and tell them to vote NO.
The easiest thing to do is to call the House switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Representative -- they're open all night. Or, you can dial your Rep/s office directly; or use @indivisibleteam's phone tool at https://indivisible.org/actions/tell-representatives-no-to-ai-warrantless-mass-surveillance/
Here's a short script -- you can use it directly or customize it.
Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Your City, State]. I am calling to as [Representative Name] to vote NO on FISA Section 702 reauthorization. The fake warrant requirements in the amendment that just dropped don't provide any additional protection, and a five-year reauthorization is unacceptable.
For more detials
@SeanCasten has a good thread on this at https://mastodon.social/@SeanCasten/116418016946498315
@waprivacy has screenshots of the Brennan Center analysis at https://pnw.zone/@waprivacy/116418240208068500
Matt Wood of Free Press has a bit more detail at https://blacksky.community/profile/did:plc:x7y5txbq6jblkqh7tfhgs7m7/post/3mjo2bdvxrs25.
Nate Bartram
Jessamyn
