FBI Searched Through Millions of Americans’ Electronic Data Without Warrants

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FBI Data Privacy Overview:

• Who: The FBI searched through the electronic data of about 3.4 million U.S. residents.
• Why: The searches reportedly were made as a response to hacking threats. 
• Where: The FBI queries were made into U.S. emails, texts and other electronic data data. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation dug into the emails, texts and other electronic data of about 3.4 million U.S. residents without a warrant from December 2020 to November 2021, Bloomberg reports.

The FBI searched Americans’ emails while looking for  search for “signs of threats and terrorists,” according to Bloomberg. The search was conducted legally under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), according to a report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). 

FBI Ramped Up Queries Over Data Privacy Concerns, Per DNI Report

The DNI report states that the FBI’s “large batch queries” looked for signs of data privacy breaches by “foreign cyber actors” that could “compromise U.S. critical infrastructure.”

“These queries, which included approximately 1.9 million query terms related to potential victims – including U.S. persons – accounted for the vast majority of the increase in U.S. person queries conducted by FBI over the prior year,” according to the report.

The report compared the recent “large batch” number to the previous year: Fewer than 1.3 million queries into residents’ electronic data were conducted between December 2019 and November 2020.

However, the DNI says it is unable to provide the exact number of Americans affected because they don’t have a precise way to measure the data. 

The DNI report also indicated that government officials have increasingly requested “unmasking,” where the identity of an American, who has been included in surveillance, is revealed. Officials made 10,700 unmasking requests in 2021 compared to fewer than 7,000 requests in 2020. About 9,800 of those 2021 requests were approved, and about 6,000 2020 requests were approved.

Unmasking is requested when the official feels it is “necessary” to understand the surveillance information, Bloomberg reports. The American’s identity is not released to the public or the media under unmasking. 

American Civil Liberties Union Denounced FBI’s ‘Unconstitutional Backdoor Searches’ In Statement

The DNI report did not deem the FBI’s actions as illegal. 

However, the American Civil Liberties Union denounced the agency’s “unconstitutional ‘backdoor searches’” in a statement from Ashley Gorski, senior staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. Gorski called on Congress to “step in to protect Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights.”

FISA is set to expire at the end of 2023 unless Congress renews it.

Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said the “astronomical number of FBI searches of Americans’ communications is either highly alarming or entirely meaningless” to the American public. Wyden called for “baseline transparency” and accurate information from the FBI and other agencies if they want to maintain their “sweeping surveillance powers,” Bloomberg reports. 

What do you think of the FBI’s warrantless searches into Americans’ electronic data? Sound off in the comments section below!

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