On the recordJanuary 11, 2018
Like the ranking member, I oppose this bill. It does not meet the standards that we should have for adhering to the Constitution. Now, this is a confusing debate in some ways because what is it we are talking about? We are all against terrorism, and we have authorized the collection of data of terrorists communicating with each other. In section 702, if they communicate with somebody here, we can collect that, too. But because of the architecture of the internet, we are collecting vast amounts--we can't go into the numbers here in open session--vast amounts of data. It is not metadata; it is content. It is the content of your phone calls, content of your emails, and the content of your text messages and video messages. Under section 702, you can search that for Americans for crimes that have nothing to do with terrorism. We should change that. As Judge Poe has said, you need a warrant to go after Americans for a nonterrorism crime. There is a reason why a left-right coalition--the NAACP and FreedomWorks, Color of Change and Gun Owners of America--has joined together on the same point of view. We should stand up for the privacy rights of Americans and reject this bill and have a warrant requirement for searching for the information of Americans that is in this vast database. Just one further point: The very weak predicate criminal investigation trigger for a warrant which is at the end of the investigation would apply only to the FBI.…
