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Still Looking at You, Kids: Congress Aims to Extend Warrantless Surveillance for the Foreseeable Future...These measures have no place in a free and democratic society.
American Spectator ^ | February 16, 2024, 11:05 PM | by LLOYD BILLINGSLEY

Posted on 02/18/2024 6:53:51 AM PST by Red Badger

Late last year, Congress extended Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and, in doing so, secured “the nation’s warrantless surveillance powers” until April 2024. With that month fast approaching, House Republicans have unveiled a new package to reauthorize those same powers, within limits.

As the Hill reports, the new package “focus[es] on more reforms at the FBI to address misuse of the powerful spy tool,” but the deal does not include requirements for a warrant, which is “deemed a red line for the intelligence community but nonetheless a top priority for privacy advocates in Congress.”

The new measure “would severely limit the number of FBI personnel who can query the database, forcing more oversight from some 550 supervisors or lawyers before agents can tap into the database to gain information on Americans.” The bill aims to “protect members of Congress or other high-profile officials” by requiring consent before a “defensive briefing.”

The FBI will be required to “notify a member of Congress, with some limitation, if they have been queried in the 702 database.” As members of Congress and the public may have noticed, the FBI, tasked with counterintelligence, has become a law unto itself.

Last August, an FBI squad gunned down Craig Robertson, a 75-year-old woodworker, for things he had allegedly posted online. The killing was reportedly under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division, but as of this writing there has been no investigation by Congress. As members may have noted, the FBI now operates along partisan lines.

As Newsweek headlined last Oct. 4, “Donald Trump Followers Targeted by FBI as 2024 Election Nears.” According to the report, the FBI has “quietly created a new category of extremists that it seeks to track and counter: Donald Trump’s army of MAGA followers.”

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Government; Military/Veterans; Politics
KEYWORDS: civilliberties; fisa; privacy; spying; surveillance
CIA units are ready for reactivation if Trump wins. ‘They will do anything to stop another Trump presidency.’ Paragraph 8.
1 posted on 02/18/2024 6:53:51 AM PST by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

The notion that government institutions would reign in the power of government agencies was always a bit quaint.


2 posted on 02/18/2024 6:58:26 AM PST by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: cgbg
From 1963...

Bureaucracy Kills: A Lesson from Rome

Our Founding Fathers were very aware of this.

3 posted on 02/18/2024 7:06:08 AM PST by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: Red Badger
These things have absolutely no place in a Constitutional Republic but we are gonna extend them regardless. Chances are you have lost this freedom forever.

Banana Republic vs. Constitutional Republic

4 posted on 02/18/2024 7:06:28 AM PST by Delta 21 (If anyone is treasonous, it is those who call me such.)
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To: Red Badger
"These measures" have a central place in an un-free and anti-democratic society.

The administrative state, aka deep state or technocratic state, is moving to consolidate power, as the rebellion against them grows.

5 posted on 02/18/2024 7:16:35 AM PST by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: Red Badger

Ping


6 posted on 02/18/2024 7:27:15 AM PST by SomeCallMeTim
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To: mewzilla

The description of Rome sounds familiar…

Good article.


7 posted on 02/18/2024 7:43:03 AM PST by EEGator
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To: Red Badger

Just about anything digital + wireless is subject to surveillance and/or hacking by just about anyone from that kid in mom’s basement, to US govt agencies to foreign govts.

Some of the stupidest things to do are posting on social media, storing info on a cloud, allowing personal info to go to places like grammerly, storing home security pics on a cloud, etc etc.

And Windows OS’s. When W10 was given away free and actually forced on some with W7 updates the word was out that it had a back door for easy spying. Seriously, why else would Bill Gate’s outfit give stuff away? He’s a major NWO player. Then W11 comes along and people are gobbling it up just like they do covid boosters for Facebook postings.

A good case in point: Many of those J6 folks were tracked down via their cell phones. Many after the fact.

And FR, right here. Many make stupid statements like wanting to do harm to some public or elected official. You can bet someone somewhere is documenting this.


8 posted on 02/18/2024 7:45:12 AM PST by redfreedom (Joseph Stalin: "It does not mater how anyone votes, how votes are counted is what matters.")
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To: Red Badger

OK...
Enough....
We are supposed to be represented in congress.
We are not.
My contract with the fed is the Constitution.
It is being violated.
Can I, as nothing more than a private citizen, sue the fed for not abiding by the contract?
Will I have standing?
No, I don’t need to be represented by an attorney, our government was founded on this very principal.
So, to all the freeper attorney’s out there...
Can I file suit and sue the federal government?


9 posted on 02/18/2024 7:49:46 AM PST by joe fonebone (And the people said NO! The End)
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To: joe fonebone

You can sue a ham sandwich..................


10 posted on 02/18/2024 7:50:55 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Nailbiter

fl8r
#3 ?


11 posted on 02/18/2024 7:51:14 AM PST by Nailbiter
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To: redfreedom

My understanding of how the surveillance works is everything is swooped up like in a gigantic vacuum cleaner.

Then some sort of AI digs through all the dust particles and picks out ones that meet whatever criteria are programmed into it.

They in turn are put in a huge pile and at some point some human looks at them after watching their favorite porno videos.

;-)


12 posted on 02/18/2024 7:53:33 AM PST by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: cgbg

I think you’ve got it.

If the human thinks the person is of interest, then that person is specifically targeted.

Even something as benign as saying “I’d like to attend a Trump rally” could get the special treatment.

Most of us on FR are targets anyway, so that statement above is really a nothing.


13 posted on 02/18/2024 9:25:48 AM PST by redfreedom (Joseph Stalin: "It does not mater how anyone votes, how votes are counted is what matters.")
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...

14 posted on 02/18/2024 9:26:32 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: redfreedom

The real danger is rather subtle.

The vast majority of people are ignored.

However, if you become a public figure and gain a following then they will take a look at the data they have collected over the previous days, weeks, months, years and see what they can do with it.

What is happening is a “chilling effect” where folks with street smarts know it is unwise to stand out from the crowd.


15 posted on 02/18/2024 9:33:02 AM PST by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: Red Badger

Warrants and the Constitution:

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/protecting-americans-warrantless-surveillance


16 posted on 02/18/2024 11:00:42 AM PST by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
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To: Red Badger
If FISA is not renewed, I pledge a $100 to FR. I think my money is very safe.
17 posted on 02/18/2024 11:02:20 AM PST by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
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To: cgbg
However, if you become a public figure and gain a following then they will take a look at the data they have collected over the previous days, weeks, months, years and see what they can do with it.

This. The internet is forever, and so is the NSA. Leviathan is evil, yet we still go about our lives, and vote like it matters.

18 posted on 02/18/2024 11:13:04 AM PST by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
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