Feinstein offers compromise: secret court review of wiretap cases

FEINSTEIN OFFERS COMPROMISE: SECRET COURT REVIEW OF WIRETAP CASES
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Bob Egelko]
With the Senate at an impasse over protecting telecommunications companies from lawsuits for sharing phone calls and e-mails with the government, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) says she has a possible compromise - allowing a secret court to decide whether the firms believed they were acting legally. "This does not simply grant immunity. It forces the telecommunications companies to justify their actions before a federal court," Sen Feinstein said after introducing an amendment Monday to legislation that would extend President Bush's clandestine program of monitoring communications between Americans and alleged foreign terrorists. A lawyer for AT&T customers who have sued over the company's alleged participation in the program said the amendment was an improvement over Feinstein's previous support of across-the-board immunity for telecommunications firms. But he said it still didn't go far enough to hold companies accountable. The White House said the proposal would create unnecessary obstacles to immunity.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/18/BAR4U0OSN.DTL