NSA Targeted 106,000 Foreigners
The number of foreigners targeted under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act rose from 94,000 in fiscal year 2015, according to U.S. intelligence officials, who asked not to be identified discussing the information. The program lets agencies collect the content of emails and other communications from suspected foreign criminals operating outside the U.S., but it has become a flash point with some lawmakers for potential infringement of Americans’ constitutional rights.
Of course this quote is dramatically unspecific. In the quote they do not mention exactly what a "suspected criminal" is. Is there due process or is it merely a matter of there being a suspicion? A suspicion is an incredibly low bar and a "foreign criminal" means what? Could someone launching an ICO be deemed a "foreign criminal" for violating US laws? I'm not exactly sure and would like a lawyer to comment on this topic. Does the SEC have international jurisdiction or not and which criminals should we assume the NSA is referring to here?
The NSA does have legal mandate to spy on foreigners but I highly doubt it matters if those foreigners are "criminal" because the NSA isn't a law enforcement agency. In any case I find the wording to be interesting so I make note.
Under current law, the NSA can incidentally intercept the communications of a U.S. person and store that information in a database without a specific warrant, as long as the target of the surveillance is a foreigner suspected of terrorism or other crimes operating in another country.
The justification for the surveillance was the war on terrorism. Now suddenly there is "other crimes" added in with no clarity as to what these other crimes actually are. This is a red flag and the journalists and or congress need to be very clear what these "other crimes" are. If for example the foreign intelligence of another country such as Russia were to spy on US citizens under the vague justification of "criminal suspicion" or "other crimes" how would we feel about that?
Wyden and lawmakers including Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky have indicated they’ll seek changes to the program, such as ensuring that analysts can’t abuse the program by using it to reverse-target Americans without warrants.
Does this mean the NSA will be able to target American citizens if there is a warrant? Importantly, for all crypto zealots who refuse to pay their taxes, could it trigger NSA surveillance?