Senate delays on immunity for carriers’ wiretapping

AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. will have to wait until next year to find out whether Congress can make scores of anti-terrorist wiretap lawsuits go away.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pulled from consideration a bill to revamp the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Bush administration wants the legislation to include retroactive immunity for the three carriers, which apparently participated in the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretap program.
“The Senate is committed to improving our nation’s intelligence laws to fight terrorism while protecting Americans’ civil liberties. We need to take the time necessary to debate a bill that does just that, rather than rushing one through the legislative process,” said Reid. “While we had hoped to complete the FISA bill this week, it is clear that is not possible. With more than a dozen amendments to this complex and controversial bill, this legislation deserves time for thorough discussion on the floor.”
Reid is among those Democrats opposed to letting telecom carriers off the hook.
“We will consider this bill when we return in January. In the meantime, I again encourage the director of national intelligence and the attorney general to make available to all senators the relevant documents on retroactive immunity, so that each may reach an informed decision on how to proceed on this provision,” Reid stated. “I oppose retroactive immunity, but believe every senator must have access to the information to make this important decision.”
Bush said he will veto FISA legislation if it lacks liability protection for telecom companies.
More than three dozen suits alleging telecom privacy violations have been filed again the telecom firms. House Commerce Committee leaders pressed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin to investigate whether telecom subscribers’ privacy rights were violated, but Martin-with administration backing-refused to do so on national security grounds.
Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), telecom subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and oversight and investigations panel Chairman Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) have not fared much better in efforts to get information on the warrantless wiretapping program directly from telecom carriers. As such, the lawmakers last month requested a Justice Department briefing.
“We applaud Senator Reid for allowing the full Senate to take the time to carefully consider the dangers of granting amnesty to the phone companies who have blatantly violated their customers’ privacy for over six years. Over the holiday break we hope that many senators will listen to their constituents who want them to stand up for the Fourth Amendment,” said Electronic Freedom Foundation Legal Director Cindy Cohn.