New legislation to revise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is currently being drafted and is likely to be revealed soon. Reportedly, the new bill the House Intelligence Committee will consider next week will not include a provision granting immunity to telecommunication companies for helping the government carry out surveillance.
Note: telecomms lobbied heavily for this provision to stop the lawsuits against them for violating both law and their own written policies requiring subpoenas before disclosing customer information. http://www.ombwatch.org/article/blogs/entry/4026/36 It should also be noted, in conjunction, that AT&T recently "revised" its policy to include giving itself the right to terminate the accounts of customers who criticize them: Phone Company Censorship Policies Criticized The media advocacy group Free Press is urging Congress to hold hearings on phone company censorship policies. Verizon recently barred the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice from using its network to send text messages to supporters. Verizon initially defended the ban calling NARAL's program “controversial or unsavory" but the company later reversed its decision. Meanwhile AT&T has introduced new terms of service that allows the company to terminate the accounts of any customer that damages the name or reputation of AT&T. Questions have been raised if this new policy could be used to silence criticism of AT&T's corporate practices or the company's role in the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/02/1438239 _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.isoc-ny.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
