Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is set to expire at midnight tonight after Congress failed to pass an extension of the controversial spying law. But that doesn't mean the government's spying powers will disappear.

Surveillance under Section 702 of FISA "operates under yearlong certifications approved by the FISA Court," the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law explained this week. The current certification will remain in place until March 2027 under the yearlong certification issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on March 17, 2026.

"In order to pressure members to accept a bill without meaningful reforms, surveillance hawks are claiming that Section 702 surveillance will 'go dark' on June 12 if Congress hasn’t renewed the law," the Brennan Center said. "Contrary to that claim, Congress planned for potential lapses and made very clear that Section 702 surveillance may continue under existing certifications even if the statute sunsets. Members must not be fearmongered into passing a reauthorization without protecting Americans from warrantless government access to their private communications."

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Verizon sent one of its customers a "refurbished" phone equipped with a Mobile Device Management (MDM) profile that gave the company remote control over the device. The serious mistake raises questions about Verizon's process for preparing refurbished phones to be sent to customers.

Tom Collery, the unlucky Verizon customer, called Verizon in February after having network problems, including dropped calls. Verizon responded by sending him a replacement for his phone, a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7. But instead of a brand-new device or a properly functioning refurbished one, Verizon sent Collery a device managed with the same kind of software used to monitor and control company-owned phones.

It turned out the device was a store demo unit that wasn't properly wiped before it was sent to Collery. He said he used the phone for a couple of weeks before all of his data was erased, seemingly due to a remote action that triggered a complete reset.

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