A group of US lawmakers is urging the country’s top intelligence official to explain whether the use of VPN services could expose Americans to government spying under surveillance laws.
In a letter sent Thursday to United States Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, six Democratic lawmakers questioned whether VPN users risk being treated as aliens, potentially losing constitutional protections against warrantless surveillance.
The letter was signed by prominent Democrats, including Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, Edward Markey and Alex Padilla, as well as Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Sarah Jacobs.
Intelligence agencies will treat VPN users like foreigners because their actual location remains hidden from view. The US government uses this classification to conduct surveillance activities against people who are not US citizens living outside the country.
When users’ location information remains anonymous, agencies will treat them like foreigners, which will enable them to collect more data about those users.
How does VPN use affect surveillance?
VPNs establish Internet connections through worldwide server systems that can operate from any geographic location. Servers collect information from multiple users about their location, making it difficult to track each user’s actual location.
A US user who connects to a foreign server will present an online identity that resembles that of a non-US user and thus becomes untraceable.
The issue relates to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows government agencies to collect international communications of foreign nationals located outside the United States.
Critics say the program also captures large amounts of Americans’ data, which can then be searched without a warrant.
Lawmakers used Executive Order 12333 as evidence to show that foreign intelligence collection operates under weak legal protections. The group issued a warning that tracking VPN users through foreign entities would lead to unauthorized access to their personal information.
