p2pnet news | Freedom:- America’s Senate Intelligence Committee has passed legislation which would see the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program at least partially controlled.

However, it also bows to White House demands that telecommunications companies which aid government spying efforts shouldn’t be open to lawsuits.

Passage came with, “one unexpected hitch,” says the New York Times, going on that after the closed session, Oregon’s Ron Wyden said he’d succeeded, by 9 to 6, “in adding an amendment that would offer additional protections by requiring that the government get a warrant whenever it wanted to wiretap an American outside the country, like an American soldier based overseas or a business person”.

“But Mr. Wyden said the administration vigorously opposed that measure and was threatening to veto any final bill if it is included,” the story says.

“The measure, passed 13-2, represents a tentative deal between a key Senate panel and the White House,” says the Los Angeles Times, continuing:

“The issue has been a source of acrimony since it was revealed nearly two years ago that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without court warrants on conversations of Americans.

“But the committee’s compromise faces a series of challenges. Those include opposition from other members of the Senate as well as a competing House bill that would impose tighter restrictions on spy agencies and deny any legal protections to phone companies.”

The main difference between the two, “comes down to the question of giving immunity to the major telephone carriers - AT&T and Verizon - that are now being sued over their roles in the eavesdropping program after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,” says the NYT.

The House bill doesn’t grant immunity and, “That’s the biggest sticking point,” it has a senior House staff member acknowledging.

Meanwhile, the legislation would overhaul the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act passed to, “crack down on domestic spying abuses by the CIA and other agencies,” says the LA Times, going on that “top” US intelligence officials want sweeping revisions, “arguing that the law has not kept pace with the emergence of the Internet, the spread of cellphones and other telecommunications advances”.

Under the intelligence committee’s approach, the NSA would have, “clear authority to intercept calls and e-mails between foreigners, even when they cross over networks inside the United States,” says the story, adding:

The bill would also allow the NSA to monitor communications between a suspect overseas and someone in the United States, without a warrant. Instead, the government would be required to win court approval for the procedures it uses to determine that its surveillance targets are outside the country.

Other provisions in the legislation, which would expire in six years, requires the government to get court approval whenever an American is targeted overseas.

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Also See:
New York Times - Panel Approves Eavesdropping Compromise, October 19, 2007
Los Angeles Times - Senate panel OKs spying legislation, October 19, 2007

This entry was posted on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 5:39 am and is filed under Freedom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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