Privacy advocates push feds on spying data

Dozens of privacy and civil liberties organizations pressed the Obama Administration on the scope of its surveillance powers on Oct 29, refocusing their efforts ahead of a new protracted legislative battle. The underlying law -- Section 702 of the 2008 update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- isn’t scheduled to come up for renewal until the end of 2017. But civil libertarians are already laying the groundwork for reform now, following a mixed record in 2015.

“It may seem early but it’s not,” said Elizabeth Goitein, a co-director of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and organizer of a letter sent Oct 28. “The government has perpetuated a myth that Section 702 is narrowly targeted at foreign threats,” she added. “And we know that’s not the case, but we need the data in order to effectively rebut the myth.” “USA Freedom was two years in the making, and we are now two years out from the 702 reauthorization,” Goitein said.