The House has approved the bipartisan Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, which seeks to bolster data privacy protections by prohibiting the warrantless acquisition of electronic and remote computing service providers' customer information among law enforcement and intelligence agencies, according to CyberScoop.
Such an approval has been hailed by data privacy advocates who noted that the federal government's bulk purchases of personal data from third parties skirted the constitution's Fourth Amendment.
"We hope this vote puts a fire under the Senate to protect their constituents and rein in the government’s warrantless surveillance of Americans, once and for all," said American Civil Liberties Union Senior Federal Policy Counsel Kia Hamadanchy.
While Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., also called upon the immediate passage of a companion measure in the Senate, such a bill could face opposition from the Biden administration, with a senior administration official noting earlier this week its "devastating" effect on homeland security.
