Advocacy group: No free pass for telecom spying

ADVOCACY GROUP: NO FREE PASS FOR TELECOM SPYING
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
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 Dick Cheney pushed for the legislation. "Phone companies are supposed to deliver our messages, not spy on them," Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, said. "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." Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) 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," Sen Dodd said. "More and more, Americans are rejecting the false choice that has come to define this administration: security or liberty, but never, ever both."
http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/24/No-free-pass-for-telecom-spying_1.html

* Free Press statement
http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?i

* Statement by the President on FISA
"If Congress does not act quickly, our national security professionals will not be able to count on critical tools they need to protect our Nation, and our ability to respond quickly to new threats and circumstances will be weakened. That means it will become harder to figure out what our enemies are doing to recruit terrorists and infiltrate them into our country."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080124.html

* Bush pressures Congress on FISA
http://thehill.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70946&Itemid=70

* Edwards says Senate Dems lack ‘backbone’
Former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) on Thursday said it is “time for Senate Democrats to show a little backbone and stand up to George W. Bush and the corporate lobbyists” on a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) measure that would give retroactive immunity to telecommunications corporations.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/edwards-says-senate-dems-lack-backbone-2008-01-24.html