Our digital privacy is at stake in the Senate

An amendment to the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA) by Sens Steve Daines (R-MT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) would broaden a prohibition on warrantless surveillance by the government, from our online searches to our geolocation history. The appropriateness of allowing the government to warrantlessly surveil our every move and action is the issue Sens Wyden and Daines are forcing the Senate to examine. It is clear we cannot trust the intelligence bureaucracy to keep from colliding with the Constitution. Congress must provide stronger guardrails and splash them with fluorescent paint. So far, Congress has not done so. The House recently reauthorized Section 215 with useful prohibitions on accessing your phone’s geolocation features and GPS without a probable cause warrant. But it does not prohibit government trolling through our search histories. This is where the proposed Daines-Wyden amendment is needed to protect some of our most personal information. It prohibits the warrantless surveillance of our online search histories, a gaping hole in the House bill.

[Robert Goodlatte is the former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (R-VA). He is the senior policy adviser for the Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability (PPSA), a Washington-based civil liberties organization.]