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Wave Good-bye to Privacy Rights
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Considering the fact that congressional Democrats abandoned their promises to reign in the Bush regime and end the war in Iraq almost immediately after they were handed control of Congress by a gullible electorate almost two years ago, it probably should come as little surprise that Congress continues to give the White House nearly everything it wants, as the House passed a "compromise" FISA bill last Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Friday 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.
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The government eavesdropped on American phone and computer lines for almost six years after the Sept. 11 attacks without permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the special panel established for that purpose under the 1978 law. Some 40 lawsuits have been filed against the telecommunications companies by groups and individuals who think the Bush administration illegally monitored their phone calls or e-mails.
This new bill essentially retroactively legalizes the president's warrantless spying on Americans over the past five-plus years, and, because it grants the telecoms retroactive immunity for conspiring in government activity they allegedly knew to be illegal, Americans have necessarily been robbed of their only remaining means of finding out how their government operated under existing FISA laws.
Though this new "compromise" would require the government to obtain FISA court permission to wiretap Americans overseas, it does not require a warrant to eavesdrop on foreigners' phone calls with Americans.
Moreover, given that the bill allows the feds to initiate a domestic wiretap without court permission in the event of an "emergency" or in the event that "important intelligence" would otherwise be lost, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to conclude that this bill lays the foundation for widespread abuse. After all, the definition of an "emergency" or "important" intelligence could vary widely; no one should be comfortable that American citizens will be at the mercy of a subjective federal government that retains a monopoly on the use of force and the will to wield it to accomplish desired ends.
The Senate has the opportunity to strike down this attempt to skewer privacy rights, but given that it initially voted back in February to broaden the government's spy powers, I'd expect nothing less than a rubber stamp as early as next week.
Land of the free, baby. Land of the free.
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