When things are too easy, we overuse and abuse them. Mailing a letter requires buying a stamp and walking to the mailbox; sending email means tapping a few keys and costs nothing, and now our inboxes overflow. Driving to the store takes time and gas; ordering online means clicking a button, and now packages blockade our doorsteps. If someone offered an easily searchable file, with dropdown menus, of emails and texts and calls of everyone we knew, from colleagues to frenemies to exes and spouses and the new neighbors… yeah, the private data in that file would get sorted, read, mishandled, and exploited.

It ain’t that complicated. With respect to private data in the hands of government agencies, we’ve got the receipts.

Part I of this series on FISA 702 reviewed a bipartisan claim that the FBI, NSA, and other government agencies abuse the tools and data entrusted to them. Part II summarized evidence verifying the truth of this claim. Part III compared potential next steps, advocating for, at a minimum, supporting the SAFE Act.

The situation with FISA 702 reminds us that speed of access and ease of use, while nice with a soda machine or EpiPen, can lead to abuses elsewhere. The flip side acknowledges that we dislike inconvenience. Approximately 32% of U.S. adults floss daily. In 2024, 58.6% of voting aged Americans voted in the U.S. election. Inconvenience can reduce actions, even if those actions are beneficial.

Ironically, the entire structure of the U.S. government, from having three branches including a bicameral legislature, largely institutionalizes inconvenience as a safeguard. Employing frictions in a process can reduce rash decisions, mitigate bad behavior, and, with respect to fixing FISA 702, protect Constitutional rights.

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” – a quote incorrectly attributed to Thomas Jefferson – reminds us that liberty and democracy require effort, attention, and engagement. Lack of oversight and effort leads to weeds in the yard, wolves in the henhouse, and plaque on our teeth.

Support the SAFE Act or expiry of FISA 702. Vote. And floss.