Advocacy Groups and Companies from Across the Political Spectrum Support Bill to End ‘Backdoor Search Loopholes’

Washington, DC — Today, 28 groups, including Demand Progress and FreedomWorks, released a letter in strong support of HR 2233. Introduced by Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Ted Poe (R-TX), the bill would explicitly address "backdoor search loopholes" under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and pursuant to Executive order, and it would prohibit the government from searching databases of collected communications for those of a U.S. person absent a court order or special circumstance. The bill would also prohibit the government from requiring any entity build back doors into its products or services that would facilitate electronic surveillance.

The House overwhelmingly passed a similar measure to cut funding for NSA back doors in 2014 as an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill, with a vote of 293 to 123. Ultimately, that amendment was not included in the "CRomnibus," despite overwhelming support.

"Closing the backdoor search loophole is one of the steps Congress must take if it wants to claim to have ended mass surveillance of Americans. House Leadership must take up this bill if it wants to credibly say it has addressed the issue of unconstitutional mass surveillance," said Demand Progress executive director David Segal. "Further, by prohibiting the government from mandating that back doors be built into technology services, this bill will ensure greater security for the public and prevent a dangerous expansion of the surveillance state."

"The mass surveillance of Americans by their own government is a fundamental violation not only of our constitution, but of the rights of any free society," said FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe. "That’s why this bill has such massive bi-partisan support. If Congress wants to seriously claim to have addressed mass surveillance, they must take up this bill."

View the letter here. Signatories are:

Advocacy for Principled Action in Government

American Association of Law Libraries

American Civil Liberties Union

Arab American Institute

Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law

Campaign for Liberty

Center for Democracy and Technology

Competitive Enterprise Institute

CREDO

Data Foundry

Defending Dissent Foundation

Demand Progress

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Fight for the Future

Free Press Action Fund

FreedomWorks

Golden Frog

Government Accountability Project

National Security Counselors

New America’s Open Technology Institute

OpenTheGovernment.org

Restore The Fourth

RootsAction.org

Sunlight Foundation

TechFreedom

The Constitution Project

X-Lab