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From Magic City Morning Star National
WASHINGTON, D.C. / PORTLAND, ME -- Privacy rights and the rule of law took a serious blow today when the U.S. House of Representatives pass blanket retroactive immunity for telephone companies participating in the Administration's warrantless surveillance programs, a move that may affect a pending suit against Verizon, of which the Maine Civil Liberties Union is a part. The FISA Amendments Act, H.R. 6304, which the House leadership rushed to the floor today, after its introduction only yesterday, passed on a vote of 293 to 129, with both of Maine's representatives in opposition. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the bill next week, and is expected to approve it. Both Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama, the Republican and Democrat candidates for the presidency, have indicated that they would support its passage. The bill was touted as a bipartisan compromise on the issues of electronic surveillance and immunity. In fact however, it requires the dismissal of any lawsuits pending against companies, like AT&T and Verizon, that participated in the program as long as the companies received a piece of paper from the government indicating that the surveillance had been authorized by the president and was believed to be lawful. "Immunity for telecom giants that secretly assisted in the NSA's warrantless surveillance undermines the rule of law and the privacy of every American," said Kevin Bankston, attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Congress should let the courts do its their job instead of helping the administration and the phone companies avoid accountability for a half decade of illegal domestic spying," he added; then warned, "If this legislation passes the Senate and is signed into law, the American people will have lost their last best chance to discover the true scope of their president's wiretapping program and to determine whether or not the law was broken." "We are deeply disappointed that the House leadership, which was so courageous in its previous opposition to telecom immunity, caved in to the Administration's fear-mongering and put this seriously flawed legislation on the floor for a vote," Bankston said. "We look to leaders in the Senate who value the rule of law to stand up and strongly oppose this blanket immunity for telecom lawbreakers, and in particular urge Senator Barack Obama to lead his party in rejecting this false compromise." The EFF is representing the plaintiffs in Hepting v. AT&T, a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of the millions of AT&T customers whose private domestic communications and communications records were illegally handed over to the National Security Agency (NSA). EFF has been appointed co-coordinating council for all 47 of the outstanding lawsuits concering the government's warrantless surveillance program. Caroline Fredrickson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU's) Washington Legislative Office, agrees with EFF's assessment. "In March we thought the House leadership had finally grown a backbone by rejecting the Senate's FISA bill. Now we know they will not stand up for the Constitution," she said. "More than two years after the president's domestic spying was revealed in the pages of the New York Times, Congress' fury and shock has dissipated to an obedient whimper," she added. "The House should be ashamed of itself. The fate of the Fourth Amendment is now in the Senate's hands. We can only hope senators will show more courage than their colleagues in the House." The Maine Civil Liberties Union (MICU) condemned the House vote on final passage on changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, concluding that HR 6304 likely means an end Maine consumer privacy complaint before the Maine Public Utilities Commission. Both Maine Congressmen, Tom Allen and Mike Michaud, voted against the bill, citing civil liberties concerns. Unfortunately the House voted 293 to 129 to approve the bill. "With a note from the Attorney General, the telephone companies get automatic immunity, meaning they and the Bush Administration will no longer be held accountable for breaking the law," said Shenna Bellows, Executive Director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union. "The worst part is that the House voted today to ensure that warrantless surveillance isn't just part of our past - it's our future too." H.R. 6304 states that all lawsuits in federal and state court shall be dismissed if the Attorney General certifies that the surveillance occurred "in connection with intelligence activity" and was authorized by the President. In May of 2006, 22 Maine Verizon customers filed a privacy complaint with the Maine Public Utilities Commission. The federal government sued to stop the investigation. That lawsuit is one of dozens of lawsuits against the telephone company that have been consolidated in a single proceeding before a Federal Court in California. Notably, the privacy complaint against Verizon does not contain any request for monetary damages. All of the lawsuits against the telephone companies request a permanent cessation of warrantless surveillance. The Bush Administration requested that Congress move before any of the lawsuits are decided, although there is nothing that would prevent Congress from waiting to decide the immunity question after the courts have weighed in on the constitutionality of the warrantless spy program. "Today the House gave the Bush Administration and the telephone companies a sweetheart deal that makes a mockery of our Fourth Amendment right to privacy," said Bellows. "Now Mainers may never know if our privacy was violated by the Bush Administration and Verizon." Immunity is not the only problem with H.R. 6304. H.R. 6304 permits the government to conduct mass, untargeted surveillance of all communications coming into and out of the United States, without any individualized review, and without any finding of wrongdoing. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court) only reviews general procedures for targeting and minimizing the use of information that is collected. The court may not know who, what or where will actually be tapped. H.R. 6304 further trivializes court review by explicitly permitting the government to continue surveillance programs even if the application is denied by the court during the appeals process. The bill is available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.06304. The immunity provision reads as follows: Title VIII, "Protection of Persons Assisting the Government." Section 802(a) provides: [A] civil action may not lie or be maintained in a Federal or State court against any person for providing assistance to an element of the intelligence community, and shall be properly dismissed, if the Attorney General certifies to the district court of the United States in which such action is pending that . . . (4) the assistance alleged to have been provided . . . was -- (A) in connection with intelligence activity involving communications that was (i) authorized by the President during the period beginning on September 11, 2001, and ending on January 17, 2007 and (ii) designed to prevent or detect a terrorist attack, or activities in preparation of a terrorist attack, against the United States" and (B) the subject of a written request or directive . . . indicating that the activity was (i) authorized by the President; and (ii) determined to be lawful. © Copyright 2002-2008 by Magic City Morning Star |