Surveillance has grown out of control in the U.S. because intelligence contractors have convinced the government that we need to collect ever more data on Americans. As surveillance expanded, their contracts have gotten bigger and the salaries they pay their CEOs and lobbyists have skyrocketed.  

Legitimate concerns like security, counter-terrorism, and personal liberties have taken a back seat to this corruption.

The core of this corruption is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a law that was supposed to be for targeting foreign terrorism suspects, but has morphed into the largest domestic surveillance apparatus in history. Under this program, hundreds of millions of communications each year, half of which contain the private information of ordinary Americans who aren't suspected of doing anything.

Your personal thoughts, private photos, intimate messages, and sensitive information -- Section 702 says that all of this can be collected and scanned by contractors and the government without a warrant.

There are other laws that authorize domestic surveillance, but Section 702 is the most far reaching and invasive. It gives the government access the complete contents of your communications, not just the metadata. Section 702 lets the government collect information straight from the servers of the biggest web services and apps (e.g. Google, Facebook, Apple), and tap the cables and switches that make up the backbone of the Internet. With 702 they can literally access everything you do online.

It also makes warrants obsolete for digital communications. The so-called “backdoor loophole” in Section 702 lets the NSA, FBI, and law enforcement agents access all of the information that is collected by running basic searches using individuals’ email addresses, phone numbers, or other personal identifiers. The information they gather on you this way can be used against you for any purpose.

And none of it makes us any safer. Researchers examining terrorism related investigations since 9/11 have found that only 4.4 percent of cases involved any use of Section 702 surveillance. The vast majority of terrorism cases rely on traditional investigatory techniques, like the use of informants and non-NSA intelligence gathering. Collecting massive amounts of data can actually make it more difficult for intelligence agents to find the bits that are actually important.

We have a real chance to end Section 702 and the corruption it enables.

Section 702 is scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2017, and while the intelligence industry is lobbying hard for its renewal, some members of Congress are starting to think it should be allowed to end. Members of Congress are realizing that Section 702 mass surveillance means that they too are being spied on, and that their personal information could be leaked by intelligence contractors. Factions of both Republicans and Democrats have begun talking about letting 702 sunset at the end of the year.

Join us in demanding that Congress lets Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act sunset on December 31, 2017: Sign this petition, and then share it with friends and family that care about corrupt mass surveillance.