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House Passes FISA Bill—With Telecom Immunity
From the L.A. Times:
The House today easily approved a compromise bill setting new electronic surveillance rules that effectively shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits arising from the government’s terrorism-era warrantless eavesdropping on phone and computer lines in this country.
The bill, which was passed on a 293-129 vote, does more than just protect the telecoms. The update to the 30-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is an attempt to balance privacy rights with the government’s responsibility to protect the country against attack, taking into account changes in telecommunications technologies.
It’s incredible how much of a fight the Democrats put up against the FISA bill. This was all about politics from day one, and had nothing to do with “civil liberties.” Of all the battles that could have been waged, for some reason it was this one they chose.
It’s boils down to basic common sense. The NSA asked the telecom companies for help in gathering data and intercepting phone calls. The Justice Department sent them letters assuring them that if they agreed to help, they would face no legal issues should the program become public.
Then when it did leak, the Democrats and their “nutroots” supporters wanted to “hold the telecoms accountable” which roughly translated means, “sue them out of business.”
The telecom companies did the right thing after 9/11 by helping the intelligence community and they should not be punished for it.
The real purpose of “holding the telecoms accountable” was to have intelligence secrets revealed in open court with the hopes that some of it would be embarrassing and damaging to the Bush Administration.
Looks like the Bush haters lost–again.
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