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Senator Slaps Down FISA Telecom Immunity

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the not-so-fast dept.

cleetus writes "Today Senator Chris Dodd decided to put a hold on the FISA bill, one of the provisions of which would have granted immunity to any telecom which, if found to have acted in good faith, violated U.S. laws in turning over customer data to the government. According to TPM Election Central, "By doing this, Dodd can effectively hold up the telecom immunity bill, because bills are supposed to have unanimous consent in the Senate before going forward. One Senator can make it very difficult to bring a bill to the floor by objecting to allowing it to go to a vote." This throws a fairly big roadblock in front of this bill, covered by Slashdot earlier today."

9 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Nice to know... by Eric+Smith · · Score: 4, Insightful

    that out of 100 Senators, there is ONE that thinks that telecom carriers should not be above the law.

    1. Re:Nice to know... by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 5, Insightful
      No, he just cares about the Constitution and the Rule of Law. He is running for President, but even if he does not make it, he still wants the Constitution and the Rule of Law to be front and center in the world of political discussion.

      Link

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      You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
    2. Re:Nice to know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's one thing to help the FBI track down people you know are up to no good, it's another thing to just willfully comply with a program that has no oversight so no one knows exactly who is being spied on and for what purpose. Best of luck to you.

  2. Proxy war... by nebaz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This whole thing seems to be a proxy war between the Legislative and Executive branches over the entire concept of FISA and illegality. It kind of puts the telco's in a bind. What do you do when first the Executive branch tells you to do something which is probably illegal, and which if you don't do you'll likely lose money (see QWEST), and if you do do you will face Congressional hearings, and possibly be punished for illegal activity. While I don't agree with what the telco's did, they are not the real law breakers here.

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    Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
    1. Re:Proxy war... by shawnmchorse · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well first you talk to your lawyer if you have one (I suspect the telcos do). And then you don't do it.

  3. If You Want the FISA Bill to Fail . . . by unamiccia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    . . . consider sending some money Chris Dodd's way. I just did this afternoon (my first political contribution this election cycle) and it felt good. He's still not my first choice for the Democratic nomination, but the other candidates will be interested to see how bravery is rewarded. I would sure the hell like Chris Dodd's voice to be louder in the next days and weeks.

  4. Re:Thank You! by jfern · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This does have a damn thing to do with Osama.

    Bush started this illegal spying 6 months before he ignored the August 6th, 2001 memo titled Bin Laden determined to Strike in US.

  5. immunity needs to be off the table by crayz · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Here's the EFF describing what the telcoms were doing:

    We have evidence of an NSA-controlled room in the Folsom Street AT&T facilities in San Francisco. We have evidence that AT&T diverted copies of everyone's Internet traffic into that room. And we know that there's very sophisticated equipment in that room that is capable of doing real-time analysis analysis of the Internet traffic that is getting routed into there.
  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion