House Allows Warrantless Wiretaps Law to Expire—for Now
A dramatic showdown between House Republicans and Democrats February 14 has led to Congress beginning a one-week break without sending any surveillance legislation to the White House. The result is the February 16 expiration of the Protect America Act, which since its enactment in August 2007 has permitted the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without a court order on foreign communications, including phone calls and e-mail exchanges, between someone “reasonably believed to be outside the United States” and a person on U.S. soil, as well as communications traveling to or from U.S. libraries. As a result, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, requiring a court order to initiate surveillance, has been reinstated for the time being.
The deadlock between the two congressional chambers stemmed from the issue of retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that have allegedly shared with the federal government since 2001 all telephone and internet communications routed through their networks, as some 40 civil lawsuits contend. The House sent the Senate the RESTORE Act of 2007 in November, which did not grant immunity, but the Senate passed alternate legislation February 12 that indemnified the firms. Although President Bush urged House members to immediately approve the Senate version, Democratic representatives refused, arguing in broadsides to colleagues that any necessary investigations into terrorist plots could continue unimpeded under FISA.
“There’s still an enemy which would like to do us harm,” President Bush said February 15. “We’ve got to give our professionals the tools they need to be able to figure out what the enemy is up to so we can stop it.” ALA Washington Office Executive Director Emily Sheketoff told American Libraries that Bush is saying, “‘Well, companies aren’t going to be as cooperative in the future.’ Well, they shouldn’t be.” Asserting that “for the president to be fearmongering in this irresponsible way is uncalled for,” Sheketoff added, “Patrons’ privacy is a core value for the library community and we must defend it everywhere, always.” Besides, she said, privacy laws “are clear, and telecommunications companies are no better than anybody else.”
Posted on February 15, 2008. Discuss.