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Former House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte to Discuss FISA Reform and Reauthorization of Section 215


WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Robert W. Goodlatte, who represented Virginia's 6th Congressional District for 13 terms and served as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is available this week to discuss FISA reform and Section 215.

Mr. Goodlatte now serves as Senior Policy Director of the non-partisan Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability (PPSA).

"The immediate concern on the Hill is the imminent reauthorization of Section 215, or the business records provision," Mr. Goodlatte said. "In recent Congressional testimony, Department of Justice lawyers made it clear that they do not regard information we all give to businesses to be our own. No probable cause warrant is needed to see it."

"All the government has to do is cite some relevance to national security, and they can troll through our medical records, Ancestry.com DNA results, Ring doorbell videos, or anything Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri happen to overhear in our homes," Mr. Goodlatte said. "We've gone so far beyond the vision of the Founders that we are losing the Constitution's guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures ? the very concern that sparked the Revolution and made us a country."

Late last year, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz's investigation revealed 17 errors in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants of Trump campaign associate Carter Page.

"The cavalier treatment of FISA authorities by the FBI and other agencies has alarmed everyone from President Trump to leaders of both the House Progressive and Freedom Caucuses," former Chairman Goodlatte said. "There is clearly a growing desire by reform-minded people in both parties for placing constitutional guardrails on federal surveillance programs."

Former chairman Goodlatte is available for interviews from Feb. 24 to Feb. 28.

For more information about PPSA, visit protectprivacynow.org.

SOURCE Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability (PPSA)



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