Bush Wins on Spy Bill

President George W Bush (R) won final congressional approval on Wednesday of a bill granting liability protection to telecommunication companies that took part in the warrantless domestic spying program he began after the Sept. 11 attacks. The measure shields those firms from potentially billions of dollars in damages from privacy lawsuits implements the biggest overhaul of U.S. spy laws in three decades. On a vote of 69-28, the Senate approved the measure, previously passed by the House of Representatives, and prepared to send the legislation to Bush to sign into law. The measure replaces a temporary law that expired in February and modernizes the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to keep pace with technology. It will also bolster judicial and congressional oversight of U.S. surveillance of foreign targets and increase protection of civil liberties of law-abiding Americans swept up in such spy efforts -- but not as much as critics wanted. The bill authorizes U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop without court approval on foreign targets believed to be outside the United States. Critics complain this allows warrantless surveillance of the phone calls and e-mails of Americans who communicate with them. The bill seeks to minimize such eavesdropping on Americans, but critics say the safeguards are inadequate. Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) had opposed immunity for telecoms, but he ended up voting for the bill after a failed effort to strip liability protection out of the measure.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSWAT00975320080709