Abuse of FISC and of Section 702 has long been exposed by whistleblowers, but so have US intelligence reports themselves. One report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) published in April 2022 showed extensive evidence of the FBI searching through data acquired under the act without first seeking FISC authorization, which must accompany a search for explicit information.
“The fact that Section 702 surveillance regularly results in the collection and search of innocent Americans’ communications is an intended and inherent part of the system,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a pro-privacy group, said in a blog post. “That means the government casts a spying net that routinely catches the communications of law-abiding Americans, who are protected by the Fourth Amendment’s privacy protections.”