Sponsors (8)
Introduced March 5, 2026 by Andrew S. Biggs · Last progress March 5, 2026
The bill meaningfully strengthens Americans' privacy and adds oversight and enforcement against warrantless commercial and provider access to U.S. persons' data, at the cost of added compliance burdens, potential legal chilling effects for providers, and reduced speed or flexibility for some law‑enforcement and intelligence operations.
All Americans: the bill bars warrantless buying or warrantless provider queries of Americans' browsing, location, subscriber, and many communications records and otherwise restricts government queries of U.S. persons, strengthening Fourth Amendment privacy protections.
Taxpayers and the public: creates new reporting, oversight, FISC amicus participation, and AG minimization requirements that increase transparency and civil‑liberties input into surveillance and query approvals.
Individuals and the public: establishes civil and criminal remedies (including minimum fines) for unlawful queries and makes evidence obtained in violation inadmissible, deterring unlawful collection and providing recourse for victims.
Law enforcement and intelligence operations: tighter limits on queries and third‑party data acquisition could slow investigations and emergency intelligence responses by reducing rapid access to information.
Taxpayers and service providers: new reporting, compliance, litigation exposure, and higher court standards will increase operational costs and workloads for government agencies and private providers.
Technology workers and providers: per‑violation fines, narrowed immunities, certification duties, and potential criminal liability may chill provider cooperation, product development, and technical innovation.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits warrantless queries of U.S. persons’ communications under FISA Section 702, bans government purchases of certain third‑party records, tightens provider protections, and adds penalties and oversight.
Prohibits warrantless searches by U.S. officers of stored communications and Section 702-acquired data to find contents or information about U.S. persons, while allowing narrow exceptions (consent, certain emergency or defensive cybersecurity queries, and specific court orders). It also bars government purchases of certain consumer and subscriber records from data brokers or third parties in exchange for money or other value, tightens judicial standards for compelled disclosures, expands privacy protections for online and intermediary service providers, and imposes civil and criminal remedies, reporting, and oversight requirements. The measure changes FISA and Title 18 rules: it narrows authorities that permitted some warrantless access or assistance, requires Attorney General compliance assessments and rulemaking, strengthens FISC and court involvement, and limits provider immunity when companies assist government surveillance without a court order.