Edward Snowden Warns The NSA Is ’Just Days From Taking Over The Internet’ With The Signing Of The FISA Act

As covered in an earlier WinePress report on this issue, the Congress voted last week to pass an updated version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Section 702, which would allow the National Security Agency (NSA), a subsidiary to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to conduct warrantless searches on Americans; along with practically all digital records and telecommunications associated with the individual to be at the NSA’s ready access.

SEE: US Congress Passes Bill To Allow FBI To Conduct Warrantless Searches Under FISA Section 702, Allowing Electronic Data To Be Monitored

As the Senate is set to soon to vote and most likely pass the updated FISA Act, White House officials have issued statements explaining why getting it signed is so tantamount.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan praised the House’s vote on Monday, saying they “applaud” the move, claiming it gives the government “the tools that it needs to identify and disrupt threats to the American people from hostile nation states, terrorist organizations, hackers, spies, and more,” and added that the bill’s reforms help “strengthen oversight of how the authority is used and to protect privacy.”

Today Sullivan again said the White House applauds the move by the Senate to hasten the voting process. In a statement Sullivan downplayed the sweeping powers the bill provides, saying:

Section 702 authorizes the targeting of foreigners outside the United States.  Americans, as well as foreigners in the United States, cannot be targets of such collection.  Adding yet additional protections, the amendment explicitly carves out a wide range of entities such as a “dwelling,” “community facility,” “public accommodation facility,” “food service establishment,” and more, from the revised definition of electronic communication service provider.

To be clear: nothing in this amendment changes the fundamentals of Section 702, which can be used to target for collection only the communications of non-Americans located outside the United States.  That will remain unchanged—period.  The Senate should pass immediately the Section 702 reauthorization and reform bill sent over by the House, before the current law lapses on April 19.

Emphasis his

But, Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the NSA turned whistleblower, has warned that this move effectively allows the U.S. government to takeover the internet. He said in a post on X, the “NSA is just DAYS from taking over the internet,” but is not even getting the proper attention it needs. This was in response to Elizabeth Goitein, the co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, also warned that the NSA will now has immense powers to surveil Americans.

Coin Telegraph reports (excerpts):

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Currently, the NSA can force internet service providers such as Google and Verizon to hand over sensitive data concerning NSA targets.

However, Goitein claims that through an “innocuous change” to the definition of “electronic communications surveillance provider” in the FISA 702 bill, the U.S. government could go far beyond its current scope and force nearly every company and individual that provides any internet-related service to assist with NSA surveillance.

That sweeps in an enormous range of U.S. businesses that provide wifi to their customers and therefore have access to equipment on which communications transit. Barber shops, laundromats, fitness centers, hardware stores, dentist’s offices.

Additionally, the people forced to hand over data would be unable to discuss the information provided due to hefty gag order penalties and conditions outlined in the bill, added Goitein.

[…] According to Goitein, the amendment did very little to reduce the scope of surveillance granted to the NSA.

In her view, the amendment could even see service providers such as cleaners, plumbers and IT service providers that have access to laptops and routers inside people’s homes be forced to provide information and serve as “surrogate spies,” claimed Goitein.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden described the bill as “terrifying” and said he would do everything in his power to prevent it from being passed through the Senate. “This bill represents one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history.”

Republican Congressperson Anna Paulina Luna, who voted against the bill in the House of Representatives, said Section 702 was an “irresponsible extension” of the NSA’s powers. Luna added that if government agencies wanted access to data, they must be forced to apply for a warrant.

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But Sullivan in his latest statement issued today pushback against these claims, not listing anyone’s names in particular. He said,

“As the Senate considers this legislation, we urge the Senate to reject mischaracterizations of an amendment to the definition of “electronic communications service provider” that was adopted by a bipartisan majority in the House. This amendment is a technical fix designed to account for changing technological realities – the definition of “electronic service providers” adopted when Section 702 was first enacted in 2008 does not account for the technologies of 2024.

“This provision is also directly responsive to encouragement from a federal appellate court to update the definition of the private-sector companies with which the U.S. Government can work, under supervision of federal judges and with extensive oversight by four congressional committees, to obtain the communications of non-Americans abroad,” he explained.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

In 2018 The Intercept did a report on the NSA’s secret surveillance offices across the U.S., and how they are working with big-tech and telecommunication firms to apprehend our information and habits. In the lengthy piece lies this kernel of important information:

A body of evidence – including classified NSA documents, public records, and interviews with several former AT&T employees – indicates that the buildings are central to an NSA spying initiative that has for years monitored billions of emails, phone calls, and online chats passing across U.S. territory.

The NSA considers AT&T to be one of its most trusted partners and has lauded the company’s “extreme willingness to help.” It is a collaboration that dates back decades. Little known, however, is that its scope is not restricted to AT&T’s customers. According to the NSA’s documents, it values AT&T not only because it “has access to information that transits the nation,” but also because it maintains unique relationships with other phone and internet providers. The NSA exploits these relationships for surveillance purposes, commandeering AT&T’s massive infrastructure and using it as a platform to covertly tap into communications processed by other companies.

Indeed, Snowden is correct in saying what these new amendments do is basically allow the NSA full control over the internet. Plus, then you factor other bills such as the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which allows them to force tech companies and hosting platforms to scrub content they don’t like, the internet will now be totally dead.

But do Americans know, do they care? Of course not: Americans are more concerned with their six-packs, sex, and sleaze! They love oppression, they love licking boot and kissing butt, and yet they want to whine and cry about how their rights are eroding, and can never get ahead, and then want to kiss the feet and adulate their man-god politicians to save them. Comical.

Ezekiel 12:2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. [3] Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.

We will have to, as I have said before, look for ways to move further underground and decentralize our work, as the internet is rapidly becoming a less viable option to communicate freely.

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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