The new “Electronic Communications Service Provider” (ECSP) definition, passed by the House as an amendment to RISAA in a highly rushed process, sparked widespread alarm. On its face, the new definition would permit the NSA to compel almost any U.S. business to assist with Section 702 surveillance, as most businesses provide some type of “service,” and all businesses have access to equipment on which communications might be routed or stored (such as phones, computers, and wifi routers). Because many U.S. businesses would lack the ability to isolate and turn over the communications of specific targets, they could be forced to give NSA personnel direct access to their communications equipment. Senator Ron Wyden described this sweeping provision as “one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history.”
The Brennan Center joins over 20 civil society organizations in urging Attorney General Garland and Director Haines to exercise their discretion to declassify, or otherwise make public, information revealing the type of service provider at issue in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) case that gave rise to the new definition of ECSP in the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA). Without such a public disclosure, the ECSP definition is likely to remain dangerously overbroad, significantly increasing the chance of surveillance abuses.
Coalition Letter to AG and DNI 5–9–24 (2) by The Brennan Center for Justice on Scribd
