EFF Urges Congress to Reject Final 'Compromise' on Telco Immunity

[Purveyor]

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation

Secret Bill's Text Finally Available, Vote in House Likely Tomorrow

Washington, D.C. - EFF(Electronic Frontier Foundation) calls on members of the House of Representatives to vote "NO" on H.R.6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which the House is expected to vote on tomorrow. The text of the bill was released today, and it contains blanket retroactive immunity for telcos that broke the law by cooperating with the NSA's warrantless surveillance program.

"Whatever gloss might be put on it, the so-called 'compromise' on immunity is anything but: the current proposal is the exact same blanket immunity that the Senate passed in February and that the House rejected in March, only with a few new bells and whistles so that political spinsters can claim that it actually provides meaningful court review," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "We call on all members of Congress to reject this sham compromise and maintain the rule of law, rather than deprive the millions of ordinary Americans whose privacy rights were violated of their day in court."

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 counsel for all 47 of the outstanding lawsuits concerning the government's warrantless surveillance program.

For the full text of the FISA Amendments Act:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/att/FISAINTRO_001_xml.pdf

For EFF's analysis of the immunity bill's provisions:
http://www.eff.org/files/AnalysisHR6304-v5.pdf



Read more: http://www.eff.org/press/releases

[VP505]

1. Hoyer has some explaining to do on this.

From what I have read previously Hoyer is the one that is making this vote possible. Time for his Maryland Constituents to demand answers. The House Dem's won this one and why he is pushing it back up for another vote is hard to understand. There is NO urgency and NO need for this new bill. WHY Hoyer, WHY???

[progressoid]

3. Yep - the repubes seems pretty pleased with the bill.

That can't be a good sign.

[Phred42]

14. The Democrats are part of the Reich now. Face it.

The Democrats are part of the Reich now. Face it.

Their job is, and has been, to make it appear that there is a second party in this country that has a different MO and standards than the Reich. But it's an illusion. That's only a facade for the masses. Democracy and the Constitution have been dead since 2000 - most just don't know that yet. When the Reich 'miraculously wins' in November, a few more people may understand. It's over.


The questions become - what do we do about it? What do we do NOW?

[man4allcats]

16. I'm afraid you're right.

As to what to do about it, I for one will vote for Obama in November though at this point I am hardly convinced his presidency will go far in returning this nation to its founding principles. I would write-in Kucinich on principle alone if things were not so dire. Unfortunately our country is bleeding out before our very eyes. We cannot afford the luxury of a cosmetic, if principled, gesture. The only chance we have to stop the hemorrhaging is to go with the meatball surgery approach of the Democratic party and vote for Obama. Again, though I am not optimistic, it might work. If he's elected, we'll know two or three years on if there will be any substantive change from the American fascism that is now in vogue. If it doesn't work, I guess the only thing left, short of revolution which I doubt would gather much support, would be to move to Canada. I guess I wouldn't mind that. I'm sure the summers there are a lot cooler than they are here in Texas, and then too the accessibility to health care is better.

[Hekate]

2. KnR

[fasttense]

4. It is nothing more than a CYA bill.

Contact your House Rep and let them know you are watching.

http://www.stopthespying.org/

[bonito]

5. K&R n/t

[jonnyra]

6. More Pelosi corruption

She could stop this but instead is pushing it through. Pelosi is as corrupt as the rest of 'em.

[deacon]

7. It's about Bush immunity and she says he should have it..

Accountability ZERO Pelosi lied her ass off for her position. She is the worst person for her job at the worst time. An unmitigated/deceitful failure.

[old guy]

17. Exactly what I told her people yesterday.

A no vote will protect the citizens, a yes vote only protects *. Not that it will do any good.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. the god damn tutu wearing bastards

stick a fucking fork in me i'm done with the whole fucking lot of them!!!

[bdamomma]

9. my two Reps oppose telephone immunity but I will still call them

[DailyGrind51]

10. Pelosi and Hoyer know that "we" have no where else to go,

so they "compromise" with Repubs to make their jobs easier. We vote Green or just stay home and Republicans win. We can just tolerate the Democrat-lites until we can replace them with Progressives.

[disndat]

11. Time for Pelosi to go.

According to no less a political law scholar than Jonathan Turley on K.O. last night, this re-introduction of the bill is a CYA on the part of the cowardly Democratic leaders.

[Danascot]

12. I received this email from Democrats.com

It may have info of interest to some of you:

FRIDAY: House Vote on Warrantless Wiretapping

First, I want to thank everyone who called their Representative on Thursday to oppose $165B more for Iraq. We lost, but we gained 9 anti-war votes since May. (Scroll down for our next effort to bring our troops safely home.)

Now I must ask you to pick up your phone again and call your Representative right now to demand a NO vote on warrantless wiretapping. The vote will be Friday around noon, but please call no matter what time you get this. (The Congressional switchboard is open 24x7x365 and each office has voicemail.)

Steny Hoyer's warrantless wiretapping bill is obscene because it gives complete immunity to the telcos that have spied on us illegally since 2001, as well as the Bush Administration officials who illegally asked them to break the law. And it lets them continue spying on us by creating Big Brother with a figleaf of meaningless "protections."

On May 14, Democrats defeated a similar immunity bill 213-197. There is absolutely no reason for any Democrat to change his or her vote now except corrupt greed for telco campaign cash.

So call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your House Representative (not Senators) by name, or find your House Representative's name and direct dial by entering your address on the right side:

http://usalone.com

After you call, share your Representative's response with your neighbors by logging in to Democrats.com. (If you've never created a Democrats.com login, be sure to provide your voting address so we can find your Congressional District.) Then click:

http://democrats.com/local

Look in the "Congressional District" section for a post on "Warrantless Wiretapping Vote." If you see that post title, click the link and add a comment about your call to your Representative. If you do not see that topic, please create a post with that title by clicking the link right next to "Congressional District."

While you're visiting http://democrats.com/local, we hope you'll get to know your progressive neighbors by clicking the link. And if you'd like to keep up with posts by your neighbors, click the link to subscribe through your favorite blog reader.

Thanks for all you do!

Bob Fertik

[GOTV]

13. Phone numbers on StopTheSpying.org may be wrong...

... at least they had the wrong number for Stephanie Tubbs Jones

[katandmoon]

15. Where is the presumptive 2008 Democratic nominee for president's leadership on this?

Is he doing anything meaningful besides lip service? If not why not?

[harun]

18. For those who might want a bit of a summary check out TYT's on it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x149677

[ooglymoogly]

19. kr nt

[harun]

20. After the vote on this bill in the House on CSPAN every caller

Republican, Independent and Democrat was OUTRAGED this bill passed. Not one caller supported it.