One of the best ways to rein in abuses of power, whether by Big Tech or Big Gov is to give yourself a technological advantage. The UP Phone gives real technological power to everyday people as we seek to rebalance the scales and restore individual rights.
To help our active users and prospective customers understand this, we made a highlight video of the podcast episode, in which leading podcaster Shawn Ryan. interviews Kash Patel. Patel served as a U.S. National Security Council official and Chief of Staff to the United States Secretary of Defense during the Trump presidency.
It was a two-hour interview, but for our audience, we focused on the about the FISA Act and government overreach.
Come explore the UP Phone at http://Unplugged.com/shawnryan
From the show notes, we learn more about Patel’s background:
“Kash Patel's career began as a public defender, where he managed complex criminal cases. He later worked as a terrorism prosecutor at the Department of Justice (DOJ), leading high-profile investigations and prosecutions against terror groups like Al-Qaida and ISIS. He also served as the DOJ Liaison Officer to the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).”
As the full interview reveals, while working in government, Patel advocated for massive reform to restrict the U.S. government’s legal authority to spy on its own citizens and to reserve the powers of laws like FISA to their original intent – to give the government the legal ability to pursue foreign adversarial and terrorist threats with electronic surveillance.
Due to his efforts to bring reform, Patel also became a target. Patel is involved in an active lawsuit against the federal government, as he argues he has been subjected to abusive, targeted government surveillance.
Given his background, Patel often speaks about privacy and security related topics. He now works with The Kash Foundation, the organization he created to provide legal support and funds for whistleblowers within the federal government and to educate the public on important topics that often receive scant coverage from the mainstream media. You can watch the full Shawn Ryan Show episode here:
Last April, the Congress passed, and President Biden signed, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), a bill that included the reauthorization and expansion of FISA. We sent an urgent email encouraging our customers and audience to learn more and get involved. Unfortunately, even with opposition from both sides of the political divide, the bill did pass. It saddles us with this ill-conceived invasive legal framework for a couple more years. It increases the scope of information the government can collect under Section 702 of FISA. Patel specifically addresses this in his interview with Shawn Ryan.
This gives the NSA/federal government the ability to pull all types of businesses into this definition. It massively expands the potential for warrantless surveillance. Companies tasked with doing the government’s bidding not only do not have the option to refuse these queries, but they are also usually gagged and prevented from informing clients that their information has been accessed by the government.
The good news is that at Unplugged, we simply do not have access to your encrypted communications on UP Messenger. We have enough of your personal information to process your orders and to send you emails such as this one, but we cannot access your private encrypted communications – even if people in government or unscrupulous data brokers come asking.
Things are not hopeless. In the recent words of privacy advocate Naomi Brockwell, 
There is hope, but life today requires ongoing personal vigilance. We need new tools truly aligned with our interests as freedom-loving people. Whether financial data, private communications, health data, or location data and travel logs - you should have the option, the power, and the technology to keep it private.
The UP Phone and the unified operating system and collection of apps brought to you by Unplugged can be part of the solution for you and your family.
Get your UP Phone today at Unplugged.
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