The Global Network Initiative (GNI) is concerned about the possibility that legislators may miss another opportunity to enact meaningful privacy-protecting reforms as part of the impending reauthorization of Section 702 of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). GNI urges Congress to include meaningful legal limits, robust judicial oversight, and effective protections against misuse in Section 702’s reauthorization to protect the Constitutional and legal rights of U.S. persons, uphold U.S.’s treaty obligations including towards non-U.S. persons, and demonstrate how democracies can balance security needs with rights protections.
GNI shares the concerns that many other civil liberties organizations and tech companies have raised about the current framework, including the absence of a warrant requirement for certain queries, the scope of data collection and retention, and the expansion of entities subject to surveillance obligations. Reauthorization should be accompanied by meaningful reforms, in order to address documented abuses affecting protesters, journalists, lawmakers, and other individuals exercising their fundamental rights.
While these issues have been widely discussed in the U.S. domestic context, the implications of Section 702 extend far beyond U.S. borders. By design, Section 702 authorizes the collection of communications involving non-U.S. persons located abroad, often through compelled assistance from companies that operate globally. As a result, individuals around the world may have their communications collected without sufficient safeguards and meaningful transparency. GNI acknowledges that a state may provide its citizens and those within its borders protections that go beyond what is required under international human rights law. Consistent with this, important safeguards against arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy apply to all U.S. surveillance activities and to all persons, regardless of location or citizenship, in line with U.S. commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The reauthorization of Section 702 therefore carries implications not only for individuals in the United States, but also for people, companies, and governance frameworks around the world. At a time when governments are actively shaping the future of digital regulation and cross-border data governance, decisions about surveillance authorities will influence global norms, legal interoperability, and trust in the digital ecosystem.
GNI believes that this moment presents an important opportunity for the United States to demonstrate leadership in aligning national security practices with democratic values and international human rights standards. Ensuring that surveillance authorities are subject to clear legal limits, robust oversight, and meaningful safeguards will be essential not only for protecting individual rights, but also for sustaining trust in the global digital environment upon which users, companies, and societies increasingly depend.
About GNI
The Global Network Initiative is a multistakeholder organization of technology companies, civil society groups, academics, and investors working to advance freedom of expression and privacy in the technology sector. GNI develops principles and guidance to help companies respond to government demands for user data and content in ways that respect human rights, and advocates for legal frameworks that include strong safeguards, oversight, and transparency. GNI has been actively engaged on surveillance reform, including U.S. authorities such as Section 702 of FISA, as well as comparable frameworks globally, emphasizing the need for necessity, proportionality, and accountability in government access to data.