Compromise US Bill on Government Surveillance

On June 20th, 2008, the US House of Representatives approved a Bill amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, putting in place some safeguards to control government eavesdropping, while shielding telecommunication companies from lawsuits. After passage in the House with a 293-129 vote, the Bill was introduced in the Senate on June 26, and is expected to pass by a large margin. An older version of the Bill, which would have made permanent a temporary surveillance law, was approved in the Senate in February, but failed to pass in the House. The current Bill requires concessions from both the Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats argue that their yielding was part of a larger strategy enabling victories regarding other unrelated but important legislation. As many as 40 lawsuits were filed against AT&T, Verizon Communications and other telecommunications firms alleging privacy violations when the companies allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on phone and computer lines, without warrants or permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court). The Bill provides retroactive legal protection for the firms, subject to some conditions, and lawsuits against the government itself are unaffected. The legislation specifies that it is the only legal authority regarding government surveillance – possibly superseding the "war-making" powers of the Commander-in-Chief in that regard. Additionally, court approval of procedures regarding the interception of phone calls and e-mails passing through US-based servers would be required, and specific limitations imposed on the targeted surveillance of Americans located outside the US. For more information, see the full text of the Bill before the Senate: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:S.2248 For the White House press release regarding the Bill, visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080620-1.html Summary by: Lea Epstein