FISA Title VII Expires, But 702 Surveillance Runs Until 2027

Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act lapses at midnight tonight — and that barely matters for the surveillance state. Section 702, the core warrantless bulk-collection authority, operates under a yearlong certification issued by the FISA Court on March 17, 2026, and that certification stays valid until March 2027.

Why the “going dark” threat is nonsense

Surveillance hawks have been warning that Section 702 would “go dark” on June 12 if Congress didn’t renew the law. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law calls that fearmongering. Congress explicitly planned for a lapse: Section 702 surveillance chugs along under existing certifications even after the statutory sunset. No break in collection, no emergency shutdown.

What this means for reauthorization fights

Critically, the current certification runs through March 2027, giving Congress over nine months to argue without the gun-to-the-head of an immediate shutdown. That window removes the urgency for a clean reauthorization, which means privacy advocates can push harder for amendments that would require warrants for access to Americans' communications swept up under Section 702. The debate shifts from “pass anything or lose surveillance” to “pass something that actually protects Americans from warrantless government access to their private data.”

The bottom line

The expiration of Title VII is a procedural sunset, not an operational one. Section 702 keeps running, quite legally, for nearly another year. Congress now has a choice: negotiate meaningful reform, or punt until the next deadline. The clock resets — but the surveillance never really stopped.

Source: Controversial FISA spying law expires tonight. The spying will continue.
Domain: arstechnica.com