releases: https://davidson.house.gov/2022/3/reps-davidson-and-lieu-introduces-house-bill
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://davidson.house.gov/2022/3/reps-davidson-and-lieu-introduces-house-bill | Reps. Davidson and Lieu Introduce House Bill to Ensure Transparency of Court-Ordered Surveillance | 2022-03-24 | 2022 | 2022-03 | Republican | House | OH | Warren Davidson | D000626 | davidson.house.gov | davidson | https://davidson.house.gov/press-releases | scraper | WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Congressman Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-CA) introduced the House version of legislation that will require public reporting and notice of the hundreds of thousands of criminal surveillance orders issued by courts each year. The bill, which was introduced in the Senate by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT), will add transparency to the government-ordered surveillance of people’s emails, location, web browsing records, and other digital information. Americans who are the targets of phone wiretaps or bank record subpoenas must eventually be notified by the government of that surveillance, but the government is not required to notify targets of certain electronic surveillance. Hundreds of thousands of criminal surveillance orders are issued by courts each year and those orders can be sealed indefinitely. By keeping government surveillance hidden for years, even when the targets are never charged with any crime, subjects may never know they were surveilled. “This bill reaffirms our duty to protect the privacy of American citizens and limits the government from accessing information without their knowledge,” Rep. Davidson said. “We must ensure our laws keep up with rapidly changing technology to protect the privacy of American citizens,” Rep. Lieu said. “Americans have a right to know if their emails or other digital information have been obtained by the government. The Government Surveillance Transparency Act ensures the government can’t hide surveillance data forever by ending the practice of years-long sealing and gag orders. I’m grateful to my colleagues in the House and Senate for their partnership on this bipartisan legislation to increase transparency and protect Americans’ data privacy.” “When the government obtains someone’s emails or other digital information, users have a right to know,” Sen. Wyden said. “Our bill ensures that no investigation will be compromised, but makes sure the government can’t hide surveillance forever by misusing sealing and gag orders to prevent the American people from understanding the enormous scale of government surveillance, as well as ensuring that the targets eventually learn their personal information has been searched.” “It’s simple—Montanans have a Constitutional right to know if their personal information has been searched or seized or if they’re being investigated by the government,” Sen. Daines said. “We must increase transparency regarding government surveillance while maintaining the integrity of investigations.” The legislation has been endorsed by: Access Now, Americans for Prosperity, Brennan Center for Justice, Center for Democracy & Technology, Color of Change, Demand Progress, DuckDuckGo, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Fix The Court, Free Law Project, FreedomWorks, Open Technology Institute, Project on Government Oversight, Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Salesforce. The bill has also been endorsed by the following individuals: Retired Federal Magistrate Judge Stephen Wm. Smith, Retired Federal Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal, and Seamus Hughes, member of the Electronic Public Access Public User Group. The Government Surveillance Transparency Act: | 1 | 2026-03-30T01:40:41Z | 2026-04-08T02:06:17Z |