With US spy laws set to expire, lawmakers are split over protecting Americans from warrantless surveillance

Section 702 of FISA, which expires April 30, 2026, allows U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless surveillance of overseas communications flowing through U.S. infrastructure, inadvertently capturing massive amounts of American data that agencies access through "backdoor searches" and by purchasing commercial location data from brokers. Bipartisan lawmakers are pushing for reforms including warrant requirements and restrictions on buying Americans' data from brokers—provisions that could significantly impact how tech companies collect, sell, and share user data, and how government agencies leverage AI tools for data analysis. Even if Section 702 expires, existing FISC certifications allow surveillance to continue until March 2027, but the debate signals increased scrutiny on data broker practices and government procurement of commercial datasets that could reshape enterprise data governance requirements.