Phone companies edge close to protection from wiretap lawsuits

Parent companies of the nation’s top cellular carriers saw their chances improve for gaining immunity from dozens of suits alleging they violated privacy laws by participating with a Bush administration warrantless wiretap program secretly begun after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and publicly revealed four years later.
The Senate rejected a version of a bill to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that was passed by Judiciary Committee. That measure lacked liability protection for AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. — targets of many lawsuits — or for other telecom carriers that provide assistance to government anti-terrorist wiretapping efforts in the future.
A different measure embraced by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which includes telecom immunity, could be voted on early next week.
“Targeted immunity for phone companies was something that the Intelligence Committee thoroughly considered before including it in the bill,” said Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “At the end of the day, it was clear to us that the companies believed their cooperation was necessary, legal and would help stop future terrorist attacks. Whether you agree or not with president’s legal rationale is a separate issue and that must be dealt with.”
Telecom carriers have lobbied hard for liability protection against wiretap suits, and the Bush administration would likely veto any FISA bill that does not have such a provision. Privacy advocates strongly oppose immunity for telecom carriers, but a split within the Democratic caucus on the issue has helped keep the controversial provision alive.
The issue is far from settled, though. There are a host of amendments offering various alternatives on the telecom immunity question, including one co-sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the No. 2 member of the panel.
“This amendment is particularly important because the administration and some of its allies in Congress are relentlessly arguing for retroactive immunity for the 40 or so lawsuits against those telecommunications companies that may have assisted in conducting this secret surveillance,” stated Leahy. “They are trying to shut down avenues for investigating and determining whether their actions were lawful. This amendment will ensure that there will be an objective assessment of the lawfulness of the secret spying program and the manner in which the government approved and carried out the program.”
The House-passed FISA reform bill does not let telecom carriers off the hook insofar as privacy lawsuits stemming from the administration’s domestic electronic eavesdropping effort. A short-term extension of a temporary surveillance law expires next Friday.