On November 4, OTI filed comments with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) regarding the surveillance operated under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in response to the PCLOB's call for stakeholder comments, and ahead of the potential congressional debate surrounding Section 702 authorities and their reauthorization in 2023.
OTI recommended a number of reforms to Section 702, including that PCLOB urge Congress and the government to narrow the definition of foreign intelligence, strengthen and narrow targeting standards, prohibit “about” collection and upstream surveillance, close the “backdoor search” loophole, enhance post-collection protections for Americans’ communications that are swept up under Section 702, increase transparency, and adopt additional oversight mechanisms.