Senator asks US government watchdog to review how feds use hacking tools
Senator Ron Wyden has requested that the U.S. Government Accountability Office investigate the federal government's use of hacking tools and spyware. He argues that there is a lack of transparency regarding how often and why these surveillance tools are deployed by agencies like the FBI and ICE.
Why it matters
This inquiry addresses the balance between national security surveillance powers and the privacy rights of American citizens.
Democratic senator Ron Wyden is asking the U.S. government to review how federal law enforcement agencies use hacking tools and spyware against Americans, citing a lack of transparency into how often or for what reasons these tools are deployed.
On Friday, Wyden sent a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which audits the federal government, requesting it to launch a comprehensive inquiry into how the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the Secret Service employ hacking and spyware in their investigations.
In the letter, shared with TechCrunch, Wyden wrote that while these tools have been used for more than two decades, “there exists little public information regarding its scope, frequency, or operational safeguards.”
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