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EFF vows FISA/TelCo fight only beginning.
The EFF released a statement on Friday concerning the recent FISA update, specifically concerning the retroactive immunity for 4th Amendment violations committed by telephone companies that cooperated with the Bush Administration during and before 9/11.
"Our long war against warrantless wiretapping has only just begun, and we will not stop until we get that legal ruling we’ve been fighting for. Wednesday we only lost a battle, not the war, and EFF’s struggle to hold the White House and the telecoms accountable for their lawbreaking will continue on multiple fronts — starting with a constitutional challenge to the immunity provisions...
While duking it out over immunity in the courts, EFF will also continue its fight in Washington, working in the next session of Congress — a Congress likely to be much different in its composition than today’s, and working with a different president — to wipe the stain of the FAA’s immunity provisions off the books." The EFF released a statement on Friday concerning the recent FISA update, specifically concerning the retroactive immunity for 4th Ame... more -
Libertarians: a (not so) lunatic fringe - TIME
Time reports on the growing liberty revolution taking place in the United States started by Ron Paul and continuing with the growing influence and strength of the Libertarian Party and it's candidate, Bob Barr. Zogby has recently recored Barr as reaching 6% in the polls. Time reports on the growing liberty revolution taking place in the United States started by Ron Paul and continuing with the growing i... more
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ACLU Sues Over Unconstitutional Dragnet Wiretapping Law
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a landmark lawsuit today to stop the government from conducting surveillance under a new wiretapping law that gives the Bush administration virtually unchecked power to intercept Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls. The case was filed on behalf of a broad coalition of attorneys and human rights, labor, legal and media organizations whose ability to perform their work - which relies on confidential communications - will be greatly compromised by the new law.
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, passed by Congress on Wednesday and signed by President Bush today, not only legalizes the secret warrantless surveillance program the president approved in late 2001, it gives the government new spying powers, including the power to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans' international communications.
"Spying on Americans without warrants or judicial approval is an abuse of government power - and that's exactly what this law allows. The ACLU will not sit by and let this evisceration of the Fourth Amendment go unchallenged," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Electronic surveillance must be conducted in a constitutional manner that affords the greatest possible protection for individual privacy and free speech rights. The new wiretapping law fails to provide fundamental safeguards that the Constitution unambiguously requires."
In today's legal challenge, the ACLU argues that the new spying law violates Americans' rights to free speech and privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. The new law permits the government to conduct intrusive surveillance without ever telling a court who it intends to spy on, what phone lines and email addresses it intends to monitor, where its surveillance targets are located, why it's conducting the surveillance or whether it suspects any party to the communication of wrongdoing.
(End of excerpt)
Full story at link by the American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union filed a landmark lawsuit today to stop the government from conducting surveillance under a new wire... more -
Senate passes no-warrant wiretapping bill. Kiss your rights good bye
The Senate Wednesday approved a bill to put new rules in place for intelligence agency eavesdropping on suspected terrorists.
Communication technologies like mobile phones have made the 1978 FISA bill out of date, supporters say.
The bill also effectively protects telephone companies from being sued for cooperating with a government surveillance program launched in the wake of the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The White House pushed hard for the provision, with a threat to veto the bill if it did not contain protection for phone companies.
The vote was 69-28, with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois voting in favor. Republican candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona was not present for the vote.
President Bush said Wednesday afternoon he will sign the bill, calling it "vital" and "long overdue." Watch Bush praise the new FISA bill »
The bill, formally known as the FISA Amendments Act, updates the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It will:
Require the secret court set up to oversee FISA to review the surveillance of any targeted American whether the person is in the United States or abroad;
Provide for the FISA court to sign off on procedures for removing the name of any American inadvertently captured in a communication with a foreign target;
Prohibit reverse targeting, which is when intelligence officials eavesdrop on a foreigner's communications overseas as a means to spy on someone in the United States.
Close a loophole by explicitly establishing the 1978 law as the exclusive means for authorizing electronic surveillance;
Set up a procedure for federal judges to determine whether a telecommunications company can be sued for providing the intelligence community access to its networks without a court order.
The bill essentially grants immunity to the telecommunication companies, the opponents said, because all of the telephone carriers received government certifications saying their participation in the program was legal.
Obama was criticized for backing away from his early opposition to the bill by liberal bloggers and individuals commenting on his campaign Web site.
Before voting for the bill, Obama voted for an amendment offered by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, that would have stripped the language granting immunity to telecommunications companies.
Civil liberties groups have vowed to fight the legislation in court.
"This fight is not over. We intend to challenge this bill as soon as President Bush signs it into law," Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project, said in a statement issued minutes after the Senate approved the bill. "The bill allows the warrantless and dragnet surveillance of Americans' international telephone and e-mail communications. It plainly violates the Fourth Amendment."
President Bush acknowledged in 2005 that he ordered the secretive National Security Agency to intercept communications between U.S. residents and people overseas suspected of having ties to terrorism. The administration says the program was authorized when Congress approved military action against al Qaeda after the 2001 attacks. The Senate Wednesday approved a bill to put new rules in place for intelligence agency eavesdropping on suspected terrorists. ... more -
What Every American Needs to Know (and Do) About FISA Before Wednesday's Vote
Tim Ferriss interviews Daniel Ellsberg on the FISA bill's threat to the Constitution and its implications for the future of the American Republic. Tim Ferriss interviews Daniel Ellsberg on the FISA bill's threat to the Constitution and its implications for the future of the A... more
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