US lawmakers are pressing Tulsi Gabbard to reveal whether using a VPN can strip Americans of their constitutional protections against warrantless surveillance.

In a letter sent Thursday to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the lawmakers say that because VPNs obscure a user’s true location, and because intelligence agencies presume that communications of unknown origin are foreign, Americans may be inadvertently waiving the privacy protections they’re entitled to under the law.

Several federal agencies, including the FBI, NSA, and FTC, have recommended that consumers use VPNs to protect their privacy. But following that advice may inadvertently cost Americans the very protections they’re seeking.

The letter was signed by members of the Democratic Party’s progressive flank: Senators Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, Edward Markey, and Alex Padilla, along with Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Sara Jacobs.

  • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    10 hours ago

    Well, while I agree with that sentiment, you may be looking at it the wrong way.

    It’s not that locking your doors gives them permission, it’s that they’re just doing it whether you lock your doors or not.

    Imagine you’re the NSA, imagine you’re already spying on every American who isn’t using a VPN (not because you have any legal right to, but because you can). Now ask yourself, where’s your biggest blind spot?

    This is why they want legal permission to spy on people using VPNs. If they can do it legally, they can just walk right into a VPN’s server room and install whatever eyes they want on the inside.

    All I’m saying, is that there is no constitutional justification for this, they don’t care. Their plan is simple, spy on everyone, fuck the law.