Project for Privacy & Surveillance Accountability

Project for Privacy & Surveillance Accountability ​PPSA is a nonpartisan group of U.S. citizens who advocate for greater protection of our privacy and civil liberties ​in government surveillance programs.

As the House debates the extent of domestic surveillance of the American people under FISA Section 702, our representati...
04/24/2026

As the House debates the extent of domestic surveillance of the American people under FISA Section 702, our representatives should note a breaking story: that has investigated and its employees for years. Of course, no one is above the law and anyone who appears to have committed a crime can be investigated, but the fact pattern is what has historically characterized politically motivated surveillance.

Cato fellow Patrick Eddington writes: "These are two distinct but reinforcing problems: an active criminal investigation running in parallel with classified intelligence collection, both shielded from disclosure, both targeting a prominent First Amendment organization, with no public prosecutorial output to show for it"

Many on the left also complain that the FBI has subjected their First Amendment organizations to undue scrutiny. Something to think about before the House accepts a rule that would allow no reform amendments to the Section 702 surveillance authority.

​As the House debates the extent of domestic surveillance of the American people under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, our representatives should note a breaking story –...

A deeply flawed proposal to reauthorize FISA Section 702 went down in flames – deservedly so. That bill would have impos...
04/23/2026

A deeply flawed proposal to reauthorize FISA Section 702 went down in flames – deservedly so. That bill would have imposed a weak, cosmetic warrant standard that would have made privacy protections worse, while reauthorizing this much-abused authority until 2031. We’ve since heard the intelligence community and its champions spread the word that Friday’s failed reauthorization was caused by irresponsible “obstructionism” fomented by the extremes of both parties at the expense of national security.

That’s absolute nonsense.

The House voted 228-197 to shelve the deeply flawed “clean” version of Section 702. Even that bipartisan majority didn’t fully reflect the will of the 75+% of Americans who support a warrant requirement before the government can collect and review our private communications.

No one disputes the importance of monitoring foreign threats. Section 702 will (and should be) reauthorized. But it must be reformed to prevent its use as a backdoor surveillance tool for a domestic spying operation.

At 2 a.m. on Friday, the House of Representatives did something rare in Washington. It said no. A deeply flawed proposal to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act went...

"Safety tool or privacy risk?" is the central question re: Flock cameras, as residents debate the use of the AI-powered ...
04/23/2026

"Safety tool or privacy risk?" is the central question re: Flock cameras, as residents debate the use of the AI-powered surveillance technology.

1 like, 1 comment. "Flock cameras: Safety tool or privacy risk?"

Bipartisan, pro-privacy group of lawmakers are calling for sweeping changes to FISA ahead of the law's expiry on April 3...
04/23/2026

Bipartisan, pro-privacy group of lawmakers are calling for sweeping changes to FISA ahead of the law's expiry on April 30, stating the changes are "essential" for protecting the privacy of Americans.

Some lawmakers are calling for widespread reforms following years of surveillance scandals and abuses across successive U.S. administrations. But even if the spy law known as Section 702 expires on April 30, the government's spy powers will not automatically lapse.

Two data privacy bills would preempt the state laws of nearly half the country in favor of a national standard limiting ...
04/23/2026

Two data privacy bills would preempt the state laws of nearly half the country in favor of a national standard limiting how companies handle user data.

Pair of bills would create a national standard and prevent individuals from suing companies.

Smartglasses have already raised serious privacy concerns. Now a multimillion-dollar DHS funding request for development...
04/22/2026

Smartglasses have already raised serious privacy concerns. Now a multimillion-dollar DHS funding request for development of these devices for use by immigration agents is raising plenty more.

The Homeland Security Department requested $7.5 million for research and development projects, including prototype “smart glasses” that will give federal agents access to biometric identification data in the field.

04/22/2026

🚨 Congress faces an April 30 deadline on FISA Section 702.

Join a bipartisan virtual briefing tomorrow (Apr 23, 10:30 AM ET) breaking down reauthorization, reforms, and what’s at stake for privacy & national security.

Register now!

Date & Time Apr 23, 2026 10:30 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada) Description The Path to Reauthorizing Section 702 of FISA Thursday, April 23, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 am ET Last week, Congress passed...

Rep. Michael Cloud reiterates that lawmakers must reject the "false choice" between national security and civil libertie...
04/22/2026

Rep. Michael Cloud reiterates that lawmakers must reject the "false choice" between national security and civil liberties as they debate the future of FISA, arguing that additional safeguards are needed to prevent abuse.

Rep. Cloud to Newsmax: Reject ‘False Choice’ Between Security, Civil Liberties on FISA Newsmax Brian Freeman | April 20, 2026 Lawmakers must reject a “false choice” between national security and Americans’ civil liberties as Congress debates the future of the Foreign Intelligence Surveilla...

Sen. Durbin calls for guardrails on FISA Section 702, arguing that the statute should be reauthorized with "sensible ref...
04/22/2026

Sen. Durbin calls for guardrails on FISA Section 702, arguing that the statute should be reauthorized with "sensible reforms" to protect Americans from threats to both security and constitutional rights.

Durbin also called out the artificial pressure to reauthorize the law in a hurry: "Even if Section 702 were to expire today, the law makes it clear that surveillance may continue under the current certification until March 2027."

The Official U.S. Senate website of Dick Durbin

Research commissioned by Swiss-based privacy company Proton shows that over the last decade, the government has shown an...
04/22/2026

Research commissioned by Swiss-based privacy company Proton shows that over the last decade, the government has shown an increasing appetite for user data from tech companies, with the number of requests increasing 770%. This number is not only massive, but it's a bipartisan habit.

And that massive increase is just in “standard” requests that are routinely disclosed. The number of requests nearly doubles when requests made under FISA are factored in. Most of those FISA requests are likely warrantless – obtained via “backdoor” authority granted by Section 702. Instead of being approved by judges, they are batched together and rubber-stamped: no case is made, and there is no showing of probable cause.

Proton's research drives home the fact that this is a systemic, wide-ranging government overreach problem powered by technology. Big Tech offers end-to-end encryption for users’ communications, but encryption is far from a standard practice.

As the government demands more data, strong and ubiquitous encryption would create less data for government to request or access without a warrant. It's time for Silicon Valley to draw a new set of privacy-forward blueprints that start with a Fourth Amendment foundation.

Bloomberg’s Annie Bang is reporting on new research commissioned by Swiss-based privacy company Proton. Over the last decade, the government has shown an increasing appetite for user data from...

Congress made a solemn promise on surveillance reform to the American people in public, only to break it in private. As ...
04/21/2026

Congress made a solemn promise on surveillance reform to the American people in public, only to break it in private. As a result, the “Make Everyone a Spy” provision allows the government to conscript businesses into enabling warrantless surveillance.

As the House debates the reauthorization of Section 702, we call on House leadership to deliver on this very public promise to narrow the provisions of a loophole in the definition of government electronic communications service providers in Section 702. The ability to surveil foreign threats is vital to protecting the homeland and the American people. But we can have robust surveillance of terrorist and cybersecurity threats without allowing our government to regularly spy on the American people.

This is especially true when considering massive databases supercharged by AI. It's unconscionable that can conscript vast swaths of American businesses and non-profit orgs into a domestic spying operation on customers, tenants, and congregants. Bipartisan proposals from contain language that would narrow the ECSP definition. Since Senate leaders did not deliver the ECSP fix earlier in their own chamber, the responsibility now falls squarely on the House.

Anything less would confirm the worst suspicions of the American people – that when it comes to surveillance, a promised reform is always just one vote away, one that never quite arrives.

Congress made a solemn promise on surveillance reform to the American people in public, only to break it in private. As a result, the “Make Everyone a Spy” provision allows the government to...

VPNs might be intended for privacy, but they can also subject Americans to warrantless surveillance. To make matters wor...
04/21/2026

VPNs might be intended for privacy, but they can also subject Americans to warrantless surveillance. To make matters worse, even lawmakers don't have a complete picture of what information is collected.

A recent letter from our lawmakers raises the question: What does the intelligence community do with the data of VPN users in the United States?

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