Knock out '702'

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Branson grassers blend new and old
as they ready launch of gospel album
https://youtu.be/clBy6gyOOjc?list=RDclBy6gyOOjc
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FISA's notorious section 702 is the target of a trenchant, hard-hitting commentary by Rob Braxman, a very well-informed privacy expert who runs a Youtube channel and markets privacy tech. He knows his business, and facts.
https://youtu.be/1cQ1YpTTN7E
The threat to freedom of speech and press posed by this proviso is much more serious than even many news professionals seem to realize. The sinister potential exposed by Edward Snowden has not gone away. Yet presidents LOVE this proviso, because it so effectively enhances presidential power. Even so, President Trump is certainly well aware of how FISA can be abused, and this particular section makes abuses virtually inevitable, so we must call him out on his push to extend its life with no changes.

A full transcript of Braxman's video can be found via his Youtube video or HERE. https://tubealloys979.blogspot.com/2026/04/braxman-transcript.html

Here is a Perplexity.ai summary, which, however, does not convey the full force of Braxman's hard-hitting commentary:

SUMMARY
The video transcript details Rob Braxman's critique of FISA Section 702, emphasizing its evolution into a tool for warrantless mass surveillance of Americans despite its foreign intelligence origins.

FISA 702 Renewal Stalled
Congress's routine rubber-stamp renewal has stalled for the first time, as average citizens overlook how this Patriot Act provision powers U.S. surveillance despite bypassing the Fourth Amendment.

Post-9/11 Context Shift
Enacted in 2001 amid limited digital use, FISA 702 exploded with smartphones and social media by 2008, creating surveillance goldmines via PRISM, location tracking, and emails—far beyond original phone/financial targets.

Foreign Persons Loophole
Officially for non-U.S. persons abroad, it ensnares Americans via incidental collection from any foreign contact or degrees of separation (e.g., bank clients), enabling politicized spying like against Trump or BLM activists.

Warrantless Searches
No individual warrants or probable cause reviews occur; the FISA Court (FISC) merely rubber-stamps procedures annually, allowing unchecked executive abuse akin to constant digital "roadside inspections."

Dragnet Collection Lie
All data is vacuumed indiscriminately (NSA Utah center), with "targeted" claims false—operatives search freely via simple interfaces, now AI-enhanced, justifying retroactively via foreign links.

Political and Personal Abuses
Bipartisan misuse for opposition spying (Obama vs. Trump, Trump vs. BLM); Obama expanded sharing to CIA/FBI and Rule 41 hacks; privacy tools like VPNs flag users as suspicious.

Fourth Amendment Erosion
Dragnet reverses justice (search first, justify later), enabling geofencing of events like Jan. 6 or protests; echoes Soviet tactics ("show me the man, find the crime"), undermining freedoms.

Reforms Demanded
Require warrants, criminal penalties for abusers, independent reviews—not endless renewals that empower blackmail or deep state control; highlights bipartisan foes like Wyden, Lee, Raskin.

Current Status Short extension to April 30, 2026, amid FISC-noted compliance issues; Braxman urges contacting reps for "no surveillance without warrants."

FISA Section 702 enables warrantless surveillance primarily targeting non-U.S. persons abroad, but it routinely captures Americans' communications incidentally.

Legal Overreach

The law permits "backdoor searches" where agencies like the FBI query vast databases for U.S. persons' data without judicial warrants, turning a foreign intelligence tool into domestic spying. This violates Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches, as exposed by Snowden leaks and confirmed in annual reports showing thousands of improper queries yearly.

Incidental Collection Abuses
Even when targeting foreigners, modern tech like email and apps ensures Americans' messages with overseas contacts get swept up en masse via programs like PRISM, then shared across spy agencies without minimization. Critics highlight bipartisan misuse—for political opponents, activists, or journalists—across administrations, including Trump's.

National Security Pretext Proponents claim 702 combats terrorism, cyber threats from Iran/China, and drug trafficking (e.g., 70% of CIA synthetic drug intel), arguing warrants would create gaps. Detractors counter it exceeds FISA's foreign scope, lacks "reasonable cause," and fuels a surveillance state without accountability.

Renewal Resistance As 702 faces 2026 renewal, privacy advocates like Braxman call for warrant requirements on all U.S. queries, urging contacts to reps like Raskin and Davidson. Lapse risks exist amid GOP pushback and tech firm challenges, despite no prior failures.

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The irrepressible Petersens https://www.youtube.com/@ThePetersens are going their own cheerful way, oblivious to musical trends around them. That independent streak is well demonstrated by their latest release, "Gonna Keep Prayin'." You can really hear that good old-fashioned gospel, which is actually a brand new song penned by group members and a friend.

In fact, the video teases an upcoming gospel album showcasing next month that features the band's original work.

The originality of this band, based in the family entertainment mecca of Branson, Mo., is shown not only in their original music but also in the arrangements of covers, such as the old Marty Robbins gunfight ballad "Big Iron."

Have fun checking out these latest offerings:

Below: Big Iron
https://youtu.be/tE-uoAcRzas

Below: In Christ Alone
https://youtu.be/BIXdrcmiT0A

Below: When God Dips His Love in My Heart
https://youtu.be/ZpEXZYwKo7U

Below: Caledonia
https://youtu.be/NGPWI-IW_y0

Braxman transcript

Once again, the FISA section 702 is up for rubber stamp approval in Congress. 0:06 And for once, it has actually stalled.

And it's about time since the average person doesn't realize that this out-of-control law is what is used to power the surveillance engine of the US. You might think this shouldn't affect you since these specific provisions added to the original Patriot Act were intended to aid in the identification and capture of terrorists. But now it is just a tool for those in political power to bypass the Constitution and reduce your freedoms.

Folks, I don't have a problem with law enforcement or intelligence agencies seeking out bad guys with the surveillance tools at their disposal -- IF there's reasonable cause. But we've been sold a bill of goods. This law was called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Yet, this tool was used extensively for political purposes and even personal spying purposes in some cases. and you thought it was for foreign persons, yet they find an easy loophole around that.

And the most important feature of this law is that it is warrantless, meaning you can justify any surveillance without a warrant and thus can do an end run on the Fourth Amendment, which is there to prevent unreasonable searches and seizures. Would you be comfortable if roadside inspections were done at specific intersections or someone had to check you and your vehicle every time you pass by? Except for a few weirdos among you, likely this is not your expectation in a free country.

Yet, this is being done to us digitally daily and automatically under the guise of protecting us from terrorists. This law is a mistake that needs to be corrected. This law needs to go back inside the limitations of the fourth amendment. The world has changed since this law was created and now we are in a super surveillance world and we have enabled the tools for our own abuse. Let me explain this all in detail.

(Stay right there.)

When the Patriot Act was enacted in 2001, the world was different. This was before the heavy use of mobile phones and social media and data collected on us was primarily targeted towards phone calls and financial transactions. Then the digital world exploded. By 2007, people started posting their entire lives on Facebook and every social interaction became driven by the mobile phone. Surprisingly or not, the FISA 702 was added in 2008, coincidental to the increase in digital data. The change in digital behavior started almost 20 years ago. And what is incredible is that a whole generation of people now accept putting their digital lives on the internet as a normal and expected thing to do. But this has resulted in a gold mine of surveillance data.

Edward Snowden revealed the extent of this data collection in 2013 and politicians were quick to label him a traitor. The reality is that without him we would not have known of the secretive operations of this government all being done without any kind of check and balance. Now our phones collect our location 24/7. Some of you are under the impression that this is something you can turn off. you would be in dreamland. Now Google can track practically every click on the internet and attach it to your identity. Now Facebook has a record of every person you've ever interacted with in your entire life.

Now your every email and communication is subject to mass collection under the prison program, Kalia law and FISA. Now every digital action is tied to real identity information and they tell you that you are not targeted unless you are a foreign person. So the end result is that what was a way to have quick access to phone calls and financial data in 2001 is now the big massive databases that track every move you make and stored at the massive NSA facility at the Utah data centers and whatever newer satellite sites have built since in places like Texas, Georgia, Colorado, Maryland, Georgia, and Hawaii.

Foreign persons BS. The whole justification for how the FISA 702 act does not affect normal people is that it is supposed to apply to foreign persons. But of course, they find a way to stretch the rule. Basically, if you've ever communicated with a non-American, suddenly you are now subject to this surveillance. Particularly in social media, how is it possible today to not have any communication with anyone foreign? They stretch it out even further and this is highlighted in the Snowden movie. It's assuming a connection with a foreign person by degrees of separation. For example, in the Snowden movie, they were surveilling a Saudi banker. So, a dragnet that was initiated against all individuals in the banker's circle of contacts. That's the first degree of separation.

Then you do a search of records of contacts of all those in the first circle. That's a second degree of separation. By the time you get to the third degree of separation, how many people would be included in there? And this is just backward justification, by the way. In reality, they just search for the data they want and then say, "Oh, this search is justified because of a connection with such and such a foreign person. So Trump himself was subjected to wiretapping using FISA conducted by Obama because supposedly he had dealings with a foreign bank. Then Black Lives Matter people were subjected to FISA surveillance probably during Trump's term. The point is this is a surveillance weapon that is often politicized and used because the data is there and they can't help themselves. Do the spying first and we'll justify the search later.

Warrantless searches. The key trait of searches of data using FISA 702 is that it is warrantless. Each individual case of NSA operatives searching the troves of data is actually never adjudicated. The FISA court or FISC, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, is just a rubber stamp entity. In fact, it was written into law to perform that rubber stamp function. There are no individual checks for compliance. It's more about reviewing highlevel procedures on how the 5702 is being implemented and it's really just an annual report.

If you expected some actual hearing where each individual case is brought to some judge to decide on reasonable cause, you would be mistaken. No, folks, the reality is that warrantless search is completely out of control and really is just part of the power of the executive branch. Some of you didn't worry about this when Obama or Biden used it against their opposition like Trump. Then now that Trump controls this, suddenly there's serious fear because it now comes back to bite the old guard that used this for their political purposes.

This is an evil tool and it is subject to abuse because there are no actual checks and balances to warrantless surveillance and claiming some foreign connection is a shallow way of removing the protection of the fourth amendment. The fourth amendment is here for a reason. In case we forget, the Fourth Amendment has slowly been weakened by modern technology. Because there's always data of each one of us through our electronic devices, and many of you do not abide by the tools that privacy focused individuals use to limit that data, everyone becomes vulnerable to the dragnet. The dragnet is the random collection of data of law-abiding citizens and then looking for signs of crime. That is the exact opposite of what the fourth amendment seeks to protect. This is the exact opposite of how justice is supposed to work in a free country. It reminds me of the infamous Soviet boast attributed to Laventi Beria Stalin's secret police chief. "Show me the man and I'll show you the crime."

What the founding fathers were protecting us from was the abuse of power. And here we have handed this unlimited power to our government and sometimes even to just deep state operatives who are not even elected but serve to undermine this democracy. For example, in the interest of protecting the public, a whole area could be demarcated using a technique called geofencing and then all individuals found in that area then targeted for surveillance. This is not the intent of the fourth amendment. It was supposed to be guided by reasonable cause. If a crime was committed nearby, for example, and often these dragnets cover large areas, then innocent people are automatically included.

There are already many incidents of people being dragged into court accused of crimes because they were nearby. And for political targeting, this was used to identify people based on proximity in the case of the January 6 riots or Black Lives Matter protests. If you think this is used only against one political side, you are mistaken. It is a dangerous tool to provide to any elected official.

The lie, only targeted people's data are collected. I couldn't believe this outright lie when I heard it a long time ago. Obama said flat out on TV that only targeted people's data are collected by the intelligence agencies. What a political play on words. That's flatly false. As I said, all data is collected. Whether it be a foreign person or American, the vacuum machines of the NSA will suck in all the data using sources like Prism, Kalia, big tech, and no one can speak about it. What Obama actually was trying to obfuscate was that supposedly unless you're marked as a target, then they don't look at your data.

Yeah, right. Your data is there, but they will close their eyes and not look. In case you're wondering what this user interface is to do this search, back in the old days, it was a Google search-like interface. I'm sure now it's some sophisticated UI that involves AI and powered by Panelier. That probably makes no difference, but just giving you the imagery of how easily this is done. Because everyone's data is there, it takes a whole lot of discipline to say that, "Yep, we won't look. Cross my heart and hope to die." Sure they do. Look. In the Snowden movie, the NSA operatives used it to track their girlfriends.

Warrantless needs to change. The idea that warrantless searches can be done without any checks and balances and without real criminal liability is just unacceptable. There's not much of a risk to the people who break the law and use it without reasonable cause. And I'm talking about the people in the government here. In case you missed it, one of the last things that Obama did in his presidency was to start sharing this data that was previously just under the control of the NSA with the CIA, FBI, and others. So now the number of people who can abuse us has now increased. And as I said, this would now be using advanced tools with AI enabled, all powered by Palantir.

Obama even changed an FBI procedure called rule 41 where now the FBI can hack your devices again without criminal probable cause just because you use encryption. While this is not directly linked to FISA 702 it just shows how you can stretch a rule to create reasonable cause. Could this be used as a way in to permit FISA 702 surveillance against anyone? Just understand how far this goes. If you are a privacy-seeking individual and actively seeking to protect your data using tools like VPNs or end to-end encrypted messaging, then you are automatically a target because you must have something to hide. In other words, if you put curtains on your windows, that's probable cause that you're committing a crime and the government is justified in entering your house and checking out your possessions and activities.

The value of freedom. One of the most important ingredients to me of being an American citizen is my sense of freedom. That I'm free to speak about whatever I want to speak about without fear. Free to exercise my pursuit of happiness. Free to defend my property against intruders. And freedom from some government run amuck that will actually check everything I'm doing. But when someone is able to check my every move on the internet or in real life, able to see my conversations, able to judge my thoughts, it is worrisome. I feel like every time I go to the airport that I will be stopped because I don't happen to agree with some political viewpoint or that I'm free to say what I want to say on social media without being harassed. It makes me angry that this kind of abuse of my data is possible with this FISA 702.

What needs to change? FISA 702 cannot exist as is. It has to be modified so that those who abuse our data are subject to criminal penalties. There has to be some fear associated with trampling of our rights. Searching of our data has to be justified by reasonable cause and not just based on some cause invented by some government operative who may have a political agenda but actual independent review by unbiased third parties. This is important enough. It is written in the constitution. It is not some afterthought. It was meant to stop the abuse of power. Congress needs to stop the thoughtless renewal of these laws that are no longer used to stop terrorists. Instead, these laws are now meant to limit freedom of speech, undermine political institutions with deep state actions, and even manipulate those in power.

FISA 702 empowers those with access to even conduct blackmail on those they want to manipulate. It wouldn't surprise me if some of these same elected officials in Congress are actually under the control of some operative who has dirt on them based on surveillance data. Maybe that's why this law never changes. Disgusting.

Current status of FISA 702. This is the current status as of mid-April 2026. The statutory reauthorization was set to expire April 20, 2026. Congress just passed a short 10-day extension to April 30 amid fights over reforms at the House of Representatives. However, the FISC renewed the program certifications in March 2026. So that already allows data collection to continue into 2027, even without congressional action. Now, fortunately, recent FISC opinions are noting an awareness of ongoing compliance problems with querying tools across agencies. Again, eyes are opening and there is bipartisan opposition to FISA 702 with the so-called warrants or bust crowd.

Some of the lawmakers on my side are Senator Ron Weiden, Democrat of Oregon, Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, and then in the House are Representative Jamie Rascin, Democrat of Maryland, Representative Warren Davidson, Republican of Ohio, Representative Andy Biggs, Republican of Arizona, Representative Lauren Boowbert, Republican of Colorado, and Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Republican Florida.

Let your elected representatives know that enough is enough. No surveillance without warrants. Folks, this channel focuses on technology, but not just on the hype, but teaching you about the potential risk to our personal freedoms and privacy. I have a social media platform where my follower community can engage and discuss these issues safely. It is Braxme. Join the community and learn or share your knowledge in technology. To support this channel, we have a store on Braxme where you can gain access to privacy products we have created ourselves. We have Braxmail for identity safe email. We have Bra virtual phone for anonymous phone numbers. We have BitesVPN to guard your IP address and obscure your location. We have other products like the Google phones and flashing services.

And a new product that's coming out is the Bra SIM unlisted. I'll tell you about that soon. We have two crowdfunding projects on indiegogo.com. You may have heard of the Bra 3 phone which is shipping a second batch. Now, these are all found at a different website which is bas.net which is a sister organization to mine. You will also discover the new BRA Open Slate tablet running Android or Linux also on bratec.net. Again, these products are being sold on indiegogo.com.

Thank you very much to all those supporting us on Patreon, locals, and YouTube memberships. Your contributions are very encouraging. You are appreciated. See you next time.