House Judiciary Committee to Propose PATRIOT and FISA Reforms

House Judiciary Committee to Propose PATRIOT and FISA Reforms
By emptywheel | FireDogLake

John Conyers, Jerry Nadler, and Bobby Scott just introduced bills that will provide needed reforms to PATRIOT and FISA while reauthorizing most of the sunsetting authorities this year.

From the Committee press release, the PATRIOT bill does the following.

Title I: Patriot Act Related Amendments

Roving Wiretaps

• Clarifies roving wiretap laws in order to ensure that the government only conducts surveillance on a single, identifiable target.

Section 215 Orders

• Improves the standard for issuing a Section 215 order by requiring specific and articulable facts to show that the tangible things sought are relevant to an authorized investigation, other than a threat assessment.

• Provides recipients of Section 215 orders with the ability to immediately challenge both the underlying order and any gag order associated with it.

• Facilitates compliance with already existing minimization procedures to ensure proper safeguards pertaining to information collected via Section 215 orders.

• Prohibits a request for Section 215 records to a library or bookseller for documentary materials that contain personally identifiable information concerning a patron.

Criminal “Sneak and Peak” Searches Read more.