RECOMMENDED FOR CONSERVATIVES, REQUIRED FOR WEE, TWEE, AND FEY LO-COMS.
FROM CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS.
The Bush administration won a legislative victory yesterday when the FISA
bill that excluded immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated
with the NSA failed spectacularly in the Senate, leaving the path open to
the immunity approach endorsed by the White House. The version without
telecom immunity only garnered 36 votes in the upper chamber despite the
Democrats' endorsement of it. Twelve of their members joined 48 Republicans
in voting against it:
The Senate signaled in a key vote yesterday that it supports giving some of
the nation's largest telephone companies immunity from dozens of privacy
lawsuits related to a federal domestic eavesdropping program initiated after
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
In a lopsided 60 to 36 vote -- with 12 Democrats joining Republicans in the
majority -- the Senate rejected a version of the proposed legislation
sponsored by Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. That bill omitted
immunity for the telecommunications firms involved in warrantless
eavesdropping.
The move kept alive a competing proposal, from Democrats and Republicans on
the Senate intelligence committee, that would give the companies the legal
protections they seek. It also underscored the deep divisions among
Democrats on the surveillance issue. A measure passed by House Democrats
would offer no immunity for the companies.
The vote marked a notable victory for the White House, which has pushed hard
for telecom immunity.
******
Sanity and rationalism in the dim Dem controlled US Senate??? Amazing!!!
Dennis
"VTR" <Vtar@Noyahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Z-ydnW5C_6TamwDanZ2dnUVZ_gydnZ2d@comcast.com...
Telecom Spying Challenged
Civil liberties groups urge Congress to reject telecom immunity for a U.S.
surveillance program.
Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Saturday, January 26, 2008 08:00 AM PST
Civil liberties and media reform group Free Press called on the U.S.
Congress to reject bills
that would give retroactive legal immunity to telecommunication carriers
that helped the
government monitor phone calls and e-mail after Vice President ***** Cheney
pushed for the
legislation.
Cheney and the White House this week pushed Congress to extend the
surveillance authorization
bill, the Protect America Act, which expires on Feb. 1. Cheney, speaking
last week at
conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, also called on Congress
to grant legal
immunity to telecom carriers that participated in a U.S. National Security
Agency program that
allowed the NSA to intercept communications of some U.S. residents without
court authorization.
It's "entirely appropriate" for U.S. intelligence agencies to seek help
from private-sector
companies, because agencies don't have the facilities to conduct all the
surveillance needed to
keep the U.S. safe, Cheney said in the speech, made available on YouTube.
"Some [telecom] providers are facing dozens of lawsuits right now," Cheney
said. "Why? Because
they are believed to have aided the U.S. government in the effort to
intercept international
communications of al Qaeda-related individuals."
Even if the lawsuits are dismissed, defending them will place an "enormous
burden" on telecom
providers, and the lawsuits could stop other companies from cooperating
with U.S. authorities
in the future, Cheney added. "Liability protection, retroactive to [the
Sept. 11 attacks] is
the right thing to do, it's the right thing to help us prevent another
9/11 down the road," he
said.
AT&T and other telecom carriers are being sued in U.S. court in San
Francisco by civil
liberties groups and individuals who allege that the surveillance program
is illegal.
Free Press countered Cheney's remarks by saying telecom carriers should be
held accountable for
illegal spying.
"Phone companies are supposed to deliver our messages, not spy on them,"
Josh Silver, executive
director of Free Press, said in a statement. "But at every turn, these
telco giants trample on
basic constitutional principles of privacy and free speech. When you break
the law you should
face the consequences."
The lawsuits will show U.S. residents that phone company spying "will not
be tolerated," he added.
The American Civil Liberties Union has called the Protect America Act, the
"Police America
Act." The legislation "allows for massive, untargeted collection of
international
communications without court order or meaningful oversight by either
Congress or the courts,"
the ACLU says on its Web site. "It contains virtually no protections for
the U.S. end of the
phone call or e-mail, leaving decisions about the collection, mining and
use of Americans'
private communications up to this administration."
Senator Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said Wednesday he'll
block the legislation
with a filibuster if it comes to the Senate floor with telecom immunity
provisions attached.
"Few things are more detrimental to this country than the erosion of and
attack on the civil
liberties we enjoy," Dodd said in a statement. "More and more, Americans
are rejecting the
false choice that has come to define this administration: security or
liberty, but never, ever
http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,141848/printable.htmlboth."
.
