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Lawmakers Delay Telco Immunity
Vote
Roy Mark
eweek
Friday November 9, 2007
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee delayed Nov. 8 a scheduled
vote on whether telecommunications carriers should be granted
immunity for cooperating with the White House's domestic spying
program of telephone wiretapping and e-mail surveillance. The
panel hopes to vote on the provision as soon as next week.
As part of the renewal of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
(FISA), the White House wants Congress to grant immunity to the
carriers that agreed to turn over customer telephone and e-mail
records – often without a warrant or subpoena – to
the government. The White House launched the warrantless surveillance
in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the
United States.
The House version of the FISA renewal currently includes no immunity
for the carriers, but the Senate Intelligence Committee approved
legislation Oct. 17 that includes immunity. The Senate Judiciary
Committee's working version calls for no immunity.
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"A retroactive grant of immunity or pre-emption of state
regulators does more than let the carriers off the hook,"
Patrick Leahy, D.-VT, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
said during a Oct. 31 hearing on the FISA bill. "Immunity
is designed to shield this administration from any accountability
for conducting surveillance outside the law. It could make it
impossible for Americans whose privacy has been violated illegally
to seek meaningful redress."
The New York Times first broke the story of the administration's
warrantless wiretapping in late 2005 and USA Today later reported
that the National Security Agency (NSA) is using information provided
by telephone carriers to mine tens of millions of calling records
for data.
The carriers are under a federal court order to neither confirm
nor deny their participation in the program. "Our company
essentially finds itself caught in the middle of an oversight
dispute between the Congress and the executive branch relating
to government surveillance activities," AT&T wrote to
lawmakers Oct. 12.
Nevertheless, Verizon, AT&T and Qwest all contend they acted
legally in reliance on existing federal, state and local laws.
"Current law … provides a complete defense to any
provider who in good faith relies on a statutory authorization,"
AT&T wrote in its Oct. 12 letter. "If the government
advises a private company that a disclosure is authorized by statute,
a presumption of regularity attaches."
Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and
Joe Biden all oppose granting immunity to the carriers. Other
Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton, have not stated
a position on immunity for telecom carriers. Republican presidential
hopefuls have also been mum on the issue.
"It is time to restore oversight and accountability in the
FISA program, and this proposal -- with an unprecedented grant
of retroactive immunity -- is not the place to start," Obama
said in an Oct. 19 statement.
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INFOWARS:
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