by Frank Bergman, Slay News:
Exiled American whistleblower Edward Snowden has warned that the United States National Security Agency (NSA) is close to seizing control of the Internet.
Snowden, a former NSA contractor who famously leaked highly classified information from the agency in 2013, issued the warning in a post on X.
In his post, Snowden drew attention to a thread originally posted by Elizabeth Goitein.
Goitein, the co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, warned of a new bill that could see the U.S. government surveillance powers amplified to new levels.
Snowden warns that the new powers will see the NSA “taking over the internet.”
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“The NSA is just 𝗗𝗔𝗬𝗦 from taking over the internet, and it’s not on the front page of any newspaper–because no one has noticed,” he said in the post.
The NSA is just 𝗗𝗔𝗬𝗦 from taking over the internet, and it’s not on the front page of any newspaper–because no one has noticed. https://t.co/qp5BimwOjI
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) April 15, 2024
The bill in question reforms and extends a part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) known as Section 702.
Currently, the NSA can force internet service providers such as Google and Verizon to hand over sensitive data concerning NSA targets.
However, Goitein claims that through an “innocuous change” to the definition of “electronic communications surveillance provider” in the FISA 702 bill, the U.S. government could go far beyond its current scope.
Under the bill, Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration would be able to force nearly every company and individual that provides any internet-related service to assist with NSA surveillance.
“That sweeps in an enormous range of U.S. businesses that provide wifi to their customers and therefore have access to equipment on which communications transit,” Goitein warns.
“Barber shops, laundromats, fitness centers, hardware stores, dentist’s offices.”
