A bipartisan privacy win in the House

 

April 20, 2024

We’re thrilled to share big news with you: On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted to pass the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, which would effectively close the data broker loophole. For years, we’ve been pushing to close this gap in legislation that allows government agencies to buy your data from third-party data brokers instead of getting a warrant for it. The bipartisan 219-199 vote reflects the most support for this reform yet and shows that there’s momentum building to see this hard-fought effort through. The passage comes in the shadow of the House’s disappointing decision to vote to reauthorize and dramatically expand Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a controversial provision that has enabled government agencies to amass a trove of personal information — like emails, phone calls, and text messages — and to conduct warrantless “backdoor” searches through them. Both of these bills are now with the Senate. The House’s passage of the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act shows that the fight to rein in the warrantless surveillance state has bipartisan support, and we’ll continue pressing Congress to end the unconstitutional practices that threaten our privacy and freedom. Editor’s Note: There will be no Weekly Spotlight next weekend. We will be back in your inbox on May 4, 2024. A HUGE WIN! POGO’s Investigative Podcast Bad Watchdog won a silver medal at the 2024 New York Festival Radio Awards! Congratulations to the Bad Watchdog team and be sure to listen now to get caught up for season 2! ANALYSIS The Bunker: The Big “D” This week in The Bunker: The amorphous elixir that fuels defense spending; the amorphous crowd that puts its pedal to the metal to make it happen; the latest non-amorphous cry for more, more, more; and, of course, more. Read More OVERHEARD   WANT MORE FROM POGO? Eyes on the federal government from every angle:   Paper Trail: Quick links to the news in the world of government oversight The Bunker: Military intelligence from POGO's Mark Thompson The Bridge: Wade through the jargon with Spurthi Kontham   🎧 Bad Watchdog Podcast 📱 Instagram 💸 Support our work

pogo.org The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government fails to serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing. We champion reforms to achieve a more effective, ethical, and accountable federal government that safeguards constitutional principles.

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