After years of litigation, a federal court finally ruled for the FBI for the discovery of communication of American citizens collected under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Monitoring Act (FISA) for the FBI. In Last week a ruling informalThe US District Court Judge Leshan Deeri Hall decided that these “backdoor” discoveries had violated the fourth amendment.
This special decision stems from a case that includes Agron Hasbajrami, a permanent American resident, who was arrested in 2011 on allegations that he planned to join a terrorist organization in Pakistan. However, the government failed to disclose that the part of its case rested on the email received without a warrant through Section 702 of Fisa.
In 2020, an appeal court ruled that this type of discovery Can be unconstitutionalBut now it is official. Judge Dear Hall found the FBI's warrantless discovery of the US data “unfair” under the fourth amendment:
While the communication of American individuals can still be intercepted or inadvertently intercepted, it will be contradictory to allow warrantless discoveries of the same information that is designed to avoid collecting section 702 specially. To count this practice, Section 702 will be properly replaced what the defendant has labeled it – a tool for law enforcement to run “backdoor discoveries” that bypasses the fourth modification.
Congress Section 702 of FISA Last year, and it is ready to end in 2026. EFF is asking MPs to “make legislative warrant requirements so that the intelligence community does not continue to trample constitutionally protected rights for private communication.”