In a move that has sparked concern among privacy advocates, President Joe Biden recently signed legislation extending and expanding a major surveillance program, granting the United States troubling new surveillance powers. The implications of the expanded program on privacy rights in the country may continue to remain largely unknown to the public for years to come.

The legislation signed by President Biden reauthorized and enhanced the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), allowing the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to intercept and store Americans' text messages, calls, and emails in pursuit of foreign intelligence. The program, known as Section 702 of FISA, permits eavesdropping on communications traveling through US networks as long as one side of the conversation involves a foreign party.

Critics argue that American citizens caught up in the program face diminished privacy rights, with the government able to store their communications and access them later without probable cause. Legal experts and civil liberties organizations, who vehemently opposed the passage of this legislation, have raised concerns about the potential abuse of these expanded powers.

The controversial bill extends the warrantless surveillance program for two years, despite past acknowledgments by US intelligence agencies that the program has been widely misused in the past. The program has now been expanded to cover a broader range of businesses, including US data centers, giving intelligence agencies even greater access to personal data.

Although US Attorney General Merrick Garland has emphasized that these updates protect Americans' privacy and civil liberties, the ability for the government to retain communications captured by the 702 program for an extended period raises concerns. Under the law, the government can retain these communications for half a decade or even indefinitely, as long as they are not decrypted.

The expansion of Section 702 has also received opposition from a trade organization representing major tech companies. They argue that the broadening of the program could potentially harm the competitiveness of US technologies and disrupt the global free flow of data between the US and its allies.

Notably, this legislation marks a further departure from previous attempts by the government to unilaterally expand the powers of the surveillance program. In 2022, the FISA court ruled that only Congress has the authority to make changes to the law, preventing the government from broadening the definition of "electronic communications service providers" (ECSPs) to include new categories of businesses.

Despite criticism and calls for reforms, the House and Senate intelligence committees, along with the backing of party leaders, maintained control over the bill's trajectory through Congress. Their influence, aligned with the views of the intelligence community, thwarted popular reforms, such as requiring the FBI to obtain search warrants before accessing communications collected under Section 702.

Critics argue that the expanded surveillance powers not only infringe on privacy rights but also open the door for potential political abuse. Liza Goitein, a FISA expert and senior director at the Brennan Center of Justice at New York University School of Law, warns that the bill signed by President Biden provides "a gift to any president who may wish to spy on political enemies."

As concerns over privacy and governmental oversight grow, it remains to be seen how these expanded surveillance powers will impact the American people in the long run. With the potential for abuse and the erosion of privacy rights, many fear the consequences of granting such extensive surveillance capabilities to the government.