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.

  • SabinStargem@lemmy.todayEnglish
    38·
    3 days ago

    As if they weren’t already scooping up people’s information already. The point of VPN and other defenses is just to make investigation too expensive to do as a free action.

    • setVeryLoud(true);@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      18 hours ago

      Reminder that VPNs are mostly pointless for privacy if you post on Facebook and don’t make your browser hard to fingerprint and track.