Sponsors (8)
Official title: To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to implement reforms, to amend title 18, United States Code, to prevent law enforcement and intelligence agencies from obtaining certain commercially available information, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 5, 2026 by Andrew S. Biggs · Last progress March 5, 2026
The bill meaningfully strengthens privacy, oversight, and remedies to limit warrantless access and data purchases by government—better protecting Americans' communications—but does so by narrowing investigator access and adding compliance, liability, and operational costs that could slow some law-enforcement and intelligence activities.
All Americans: the bill sharply limits warrantless government access to Americans' communications and to browsing, location, and subscriber records (banning purchases from data brokers and restricting queries without a warrant), strengthening Fourth Amendment privacy protections.
Taxpayers and oversight bodies: the bill requires reporting (AG, DNI) and FISC notifications and adds internal minimization procedures, increasing transparency and congressional/judicial oversight of surveillance queries and handling of acquired data.
Individuals and the justice system: the bill creates civil and criminal remedies (including minimum fines) and strengthens the adversarial role in FISC (amicus appointment/access), providing deterrence and greater recourse for unlawful surveillance.
Law enforcement and intelligence agencies: the bill's limits on querying U.S. persons, bans on purchasing certain brokered data, and tighter exceptions could reduce investigators' access to information and slow criminal, counterintelligence, and emergency responses.
Taxpayers, agencies, and service providers: new reporting, oversight, warrant processes, and required certifications will increase operational and administrative costs, raising workloads and program expenses across government and private sector partners.
Technology companies, service providers, and employees: per-violation civil and criminal liability, minimum fines, curtailed immunity windows, and new certification duties increase legal risk and could chill cooperation, innovation, or rapid technical assistance.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Bars warrantless queries of U.S. persons' communications, prohibits government purchase of certain third-party data for value, expands provider privacy protections, and tightens FISA/Title 18 controls.
Prohibits government officers and agents from running warrantless queries against stored communications or query databases to find the contents or identifying information of U.S. persons, and bars government purchase of certain customer/subscriber records or unlawfully obtained third-party data in exchange for money or other value. The bill revises FISA and Title 18 authorities to require warrants or specified narrow exceptions, adds compliance, reporting, and court-review requirements, expands definitions and privacy protections for online and intermediary service providers, and creates civil and criminal remedies for violations.