Sen. Wyden Warns of Another Section 702 Abuse

Sen. Ron Wyden is warning us of an abuse of Section 702:

Wyden took to the Senate floor to deliver a lengthy speech, ostensibly about the since approved (with support of many Democrats) nomination of Joshua Rudd to lead the NSA. Wyden was protesting that nomination, but in the context of Rudd being unwilling to agree to basic constitutional limitations on NSA surveillance. But that’s just a jumping off point ahead of Section 702’s upcoming reauthorization deadline. Buried in the speech is a passage that should set off every alarm bell:

There’s another example of secret law related to Section 702, one that directly affects the privacy rights of Americans. For years, I have asked various administrations to declassify this matter. Thus far they have all refused, although I am still waiting for a response from DNI Gabbard. I strongly believe that this matter can and should be declassified and that Congress needs to debate it openly before Section 702 is reauthorized. In fact, when it is eventually declassified, the American people will be stunned that it took so long and that Congress has been debating this authority with insufficient information.

Over the decades, we have learned to take Wyden’s warnings seriously.

Tags: NSA, privacy, surveillance

Posted on March 25, 2026 at 7:02 AM • 11 Comments

Comments

dbCooper • March 25, 2026 9:43 AM

The portion of the techdirt article focused on the FBI is alarming enough, even without consideration of the NSA potential misdeeds. J. Edgar Hoover is likely rolling over in his grave with envy.

DBA • March 25, 2026 12:24 PM

I would unhesitatingly vote for Ron if he ever ran for POTUS. He’s one of the few congresscritters who has consistently demonstrated an understanding of tech and has a great respect for privacy and security.

AlexT • March 25, 2026 4:08 PM

I habe obviously no idea about the specifics he is referring to but does it matter?

Legal or not there is no enforcement. Did anyone get charged after the Snowden leaks? Lose their job?

I’m afraid this is all a moot discussion.

compromised IME board; laughing at the user operating the PC • March 25, 2026 4:28 PM

When we got into a building, I was taken into a room. It took me about 15 minutes to realize that I was in a hospital. I started going nuts. I started fighting guards. It took about 5 guards and my brother to hold me down. But I just submitted to them, because while the fight was going on, I saw a baby stroller in the room, and I accidentally kicked it, making me feel guilty, so I let go. I was then given a shot of a tranquilizer, I forget what it was called, and was strapped down to a stretcher and taken into another room. In this room, I could see out the open door, people that I knew from my school, but they weren’t really there. I then was seeing scorpion-like creatures crawling and flipping over each other on the walls. I also thought I saw a laptop at the end of the stretcher, and thought it was mine, but I couldn’t get it, cause I was tied down. I was then being pushed on the stretcher. A hole opened up in the wall and I was taken through a secret passageway, in circles. obviously that wasn’t real either. But I was taken to the ICU.

There, the trip started getting harder. I thought that I was in a school auditorium, and a game show was going on the stage. And I saw a girl next to me that I fell in love with. I felt the love through my body. It was a blonde girl with no eyes. She was also deaf and mute, with electricity running through her completely black mouth. After a bunch of stuff I dont really remember, smoke canisters were thrown through windows in the auditorium, spewing smoke all over. I then snapped out. I was tripping for 3 days. I blacked out for alot of the stuff, but my parents and brothers told me about some stuff that happened.

I was put in a straight jacket that had ties from head to toe. I yelled and cursed at the doctors and nurses. At one point they had me wear a diaper, even though I wasn’t going to the bathroom. They didn’t want to give me a catheter, because they were afraid of what might happen. I had to be given baths. I was treated like a baby, because I was completely out of my mind and didn’t know what was going on.

Clive Robinson • March 26, 2026 12:51 AM

@ Bruce, ALL,

With regards,

“Over the decades, we have learned to take Wyden’s warnings seriously.”

There is a big big problem that few care to think of,

1, The oath to protect the constitution from without and within.
2, The need for “National Security” to defend against those from without and within.

Which do you prioritize?

The Constitution or the ability to Defend the Nation and the constitution.

There are occasions when you can not have both. Which brings up the real nub of the issue,

3, How do you out those from within without arming those who are without?
4, How do you stop those within using (3) to carry out “self entitled” actions?

It’s a perverse “Honour Code” that is both a Sword and a Shield to not just those from within, but also those who have betrayed the Nation to those without in the name of the Constitution.

After all what better argument is there that the “betrayal” is part of some greater scheme that “you can not be told”.

In essence the argument falls to,

You can not have “oversight” because “oversight requires blind trust” in those who “Watch the watchers”…

It’s a form of “circular or turtles all the way down” argument. To which the only solution is,

“Total naked honesty in a world where at least 2/10ths of the population will take advantage,

“As their only real allegiance is to self and short term gain no matter what the consequences to others or even themselves…”

“They have no empathy even to their future selves just their immediate wants no matter what the cost…”

Which is where the old quote about an “Honourable man fallen into a den of thieves” comes into both philosophy and psychiatry….

And like the “Trolley Dilemma” it only has wrong answers.

I would not want to ever be in Ron Wyden’s position of “fallen into that den of thieves” of self interested and self entitled rouges, especially as few others there can reason enough how many ways there are to tie their shoe laces…

ResearcherZero • March 26, 2026 7:45 AM

The section of 702 that allows for eavesdropping on journalists, government officials, political commentators, members of the American public, or anyone else under a range of different reasons for activities that would fall under constitutionally protected actions (or criminal actions) ?

It is through the publicly undisclosed areas that the FBI can get access to data to search through when it executes a 702 request. Communications data, amongst other categories. This includes a whole range of day to day activities that are not always a threat to public safety.

If more time and attention was diverted to actually prosecuting the criminal offenses of foreign spies running loose on the streets and acts of political interference, rather than monitoring perceived displays of dissent, then all the self-aggrandizing from politicians – who claim they are defending national security – might actually stand for something demonstrable. It would require both a little courage from both the FBI and politicians, who are never good with the timing or seeing things through till the end, by putting themselves on the line.

Nipping the covert activities of foreign spies in the bud would prevent a whole host of problems. Problems that inevitably snowball over time and via the methods entailed, lead to the cancerous growth of corruption and social disharmony, that results from covering-up the penetration of government departments and agencies by foreign actors. Institutions become ineffective when they are so preoccupied with hiding misconduct, that they no longer address the concerns of the public, nor the concerns of officers and officials charged with protecting the nation from enemies foreign and domestic. (Public safety is a component of national security.)

The entire point of authorizations such as Section 702 is for collecting evidence to prosecute the harmful activities of those working on behalf of hostile adversaries. To prevent and stop these malicious actors from kidnapping, murdering and harming citizens. To prevent further harm befalling those affected (and others) and neutralize their activities before they can carry out acts of political interference, espionage, social disruption, sabotage, bombing, assassination and the long list of violent crimes that fund these activities.

Convictions for violent crime are far easier to secure than charges of espionage or political interference and include lengthy sentences that might typically preclude offenders from the kinds of prisoner swaps, or claims of innocence and deniability. (702 would be useful here).

The quantity of defense secrets and sensitive information stolen by Unit 29155 is very significant and the amount of violence inflicted within communities against members of the public is staggering. The MSS has a well placed operative within the network and hence is a beneficiary of the information collected from the results of the GRU’s covert activities.

Despite the powers of authorizations like 702, this activity has been allowed to continue unabated. When politicians and law enforcement ignore attacks by foreign operatives against members of the public and intelligence officers, those foreign spies no longer need worry about conducting assassinations themselves, they’ll find someone aggrieved enough to do the job for them. There are more than enough unwitting assets willing to engage in malicious acts, against innocent people, without ever understanding who they are really working for.

It is the victims of these harmful acts the government should concern itself with. If hostile foreign spies are willing to kill innocent members of the public, they will certainly engage in extremely harmful activity if they think nobody is willing to stop them. Given how long the Havana Syndrome saga has dragged on for, it is clear that Section 702 has not been put to good use to address the malign activities of groups like Unit 29155.

Velcro • March 26, 2026 7:54 AM

@Clive Robinson

Were you referring to this?

http s://www.gru nge.com/489739/how-the-cia-used-shoelaces-to-send-secret-coded-messages/

wiredog • March 26, 2026 9:58 AM

@AlexT
“Did anyone get charged after the Snowden leaks?”
Snowden did. And he had to flee the country and is currently living in Putin’s Russia.

Rontea • March 26, 2026 12:28 PM

In the age of artificial intelligence, protecting Americans’ privacy has never been more urgent. As algorithms and massive data collection grow more powerful, secret interpretations of the law, like those surrounding Section 702, threaten to erode fundamental rights. Americans deserve to know how their data is being used, and they deserve a meaningful debate before any reauthorization of broad surveillance powers. True security doesn’t come from unchecked government spying—it comes from transparency, accountability, and a firm commitment to the Constitution.

Ismar • March 27, 2026 12:27 AM

Either privacy for all, or privacy for none . I would be happy with either

Clive Robinson • March 27, 2026 10:51 AM

@ Velcro,

With regards,

“Were you referring to this?”

But it is fun though.

What I was refering to was the ludicrous testimony given by Forensic “Expert Witnesses” about the handedness of the knot tier.

It’s compleat nonsense on every occasion as it’s trivial to change as you wish.

Put simply there are two basic forms of the “bow” used, that which is known as a “Reef or Square knot” which you should use for shoes and then there is the “granny knot” used to decorate presents and fancy gifts.

The former some know as “left over right then right over left” works as well if tied as right over left the left over right.

The decorative type is ‘left over right then left over right” again or the other way around.

The result of the reef/square knot is a knot that is less likely to “pull open from load, whilst still being easy to open by hand”. You can recognize it because the loops and free-ends align with the tie loop.

The result of the “granny or decorative” knote is the loops and free-end are at 90 degrees to the tie loop. It might look decorative but it easily opens from either the load or by hand.

Some people think a “lock half hitch” resolves the holding issue… The answer depends on if it makes a reef knot or granny knot with the half hitch below.

So there are with this lock hitch idea eight knots… Which means as far as handedness is concerned, as many shoe knots as a Squid has tenticals…

Know I don’t know about you but I’ve not seen many squid wearing shoes, though there are the odd clowns that can not even work out why their argument is ludicrous.

A young lady I used to know a half century ago used to tie her shoes differently just about every day. Because she had white cotton laces she had in effect “tie-dyed” in bright colours and went with her mood.

You might have gathered by now that like a lot of people who can actually think and reason, I’ve little or no respect for those who claim to be “forensic scientists” unless my dictionary has left out a definition for “forensic” that means worse than foolish along with “strawman for hire”…

Although most laws of nature do not have a preferred direction that is they are reversible, there is good reason to know why we don’t argue “back from effect to cause”. That is “Times arrow” is not just an expression but a consequence of “statistical mechanics” entropy and probability. Also why “entities with agency” are not constrained by them at the macro level.

Schneier on Security

Sen. Wyden Warns of Another Section 702 Abuse

Comments

Leave a comment Cancel reply