House set to let warrantless eavesdropping law lapse
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President lobbied hard Thursday for renewal of Protect America Act, which expires Feb. 16.
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This week's top-level spying spat hits on a legal gray area that may require new laws to resolve.
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The Senate on Tuesday approved new rules for government eavesdropping on phone calls and e-mails, giving the White House much of the latitude it wanted and granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies that helped in the snooping after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
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The Democratic-led House of  Representatives defied President George W. Bush on Friday and  recessed without replacing an expiring spy law with one that  would shield telephone companies from lawsuits.
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The House of Representatives was scheduled to reconvene today without any sign of compromise on an intelligence-overhaul bill sought by President Bush that is being blocked from a final vote
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The US House of Representatives was forced to pass a temporary measure keeping the government open on Wednesday after one embarrassing clause allowing lawmakers to see
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Republicans warn that the law's expiration over the weekend diminishes the ability to conduct terrorist surveillance, but the Democrats call those statements misleading.
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Decision is latest setback to efforts to force disclosure of warrantless wiretapping details.
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Phone companies that took part in President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic spying program would receive retroactive immunity from lawsuits under a bill passed overwhelmingly on Tuesday by the Democratic-led Senate.
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. lawmakers promised to push ahead legislation aimed at cracking down on pretexting despite some objections from telecom carriers and the U.S. Department of Justice. Nearly all the members of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee pledged to push the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act, which would give the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) authority to file lawsuits against pretexters and the people who hire them. The bill would also require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to draw up new rules for telecom carriers to protect private phone records, and it would prevent carriers from sharing customer information with third parties without permission. Despite some concerns about the bill, lawmakers said consumers need protection against pretexting, the practice of posing as a telecom customer to obtain phone records and other private information. "Someone with bad intentions and a few bucks can get a hold of almost anybody's cell phone records," said Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican. President George Bush signed a bill creating criminal penalties for pretexting in January. But proponents of the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act say the extra protections in the bill are also needed. The Energy and Commerce Committee approved the same bill during the last session of Congress, but the legislation apparently was held up on the House floor because of concerns from federal law enforcement agencies that the bill could slow efforts to get information on terrorism suspects. Lawmakers from both parties complained that they received little explanation about why the bill died last year. Thomas Navin, chief of the FCC's Wireline Bureau, said the Department of Justice was concerned that the FCC would set up rules that consumers are notified too soon after their phone records were accessed by someone else. The DOJ wanted a delay of seven days before consumers were notified, he said. But Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said consumers should be notified immediately. "I don't think the Department of Justice should be listened to on that issue," he said. "I think [victims] should be listened to on that issue." Markey pointed to news reports this week saying the FBI may have violated the law and its internal rules while collecting telephone, data, and other personal records through the Patriot Act. "There is still a lack of respect for the law of our country," he said. Beyond the law enforcement concerns, representatives of trade groups the United States Telecom Association and CTIA-The Wireless Association said the bill could prevent them from sharing customer information with third parties that market complementary products. CTIA members don't share customers' personal information with unrelated groups, but the carriers do use third-party vendors to market wireless-related products, said Steve Largent, CTIA's president and CEO. But Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, questioned industry concerns about language in the bill that could require carriers to get opt-in permission from customers to share their personal data. "It seems if we want to protect privacy, we should change this from opt out to opt in," he said.
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In a victory for President George W. Bush, the House of Representatives on Wednesday defeated a Democratic bid to temporarily extend an expiring spy law instead of replacing it with a new measure that also would immunize telephone companies from lawsuits.
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The U.S. government can continue to use its warrantless domestic wiretap program pending the Justice Department's appeal of a federal judge's ruling outlawing the program, a U.S. Appeals Court in Cincinnati ruled on Wednesday.
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Civil liberties and media reform group Free Press called on the U.S. Congress to reject bills that would give retroactive legal immunity to telecommunication carriers that helped the government monitor phone calls and e-mail after Vice President Dick Cheney pushed for the legislation.Cheney and the White House this week pushed Congress to extend the surveillance authorization bill, the Protect America Act, which expires on Feb. 1. Cheney, speaking Wednesday at conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, also called on Congress to grant legal immunity to telecom carriers that participated in a U.S. National Security Agency program that allowed the NSA to intercept communications of some U.S. residents without court authorization.It&#39;s &quot;entirely appropriate&quot; for U.S. intelligence agencies to seek help from private-sector companies, because agencies don&#39;t have the facilities to conduct all the surveillance needed to keep the United States safe, Cheney said in the speech, made available on YouTube.&quot;Some [telecom] providers are facing dozens of lawsuits right now,&quot; Cheney said. &quot;Why? Because they are believed to have aided the U.S. government in the effort to intercept international communications of al Qaeda-related individuals.&quot;Even if the lawsuits are dismissed, defending them will place an &quot;enormous burden&quot; on telecom providers, and the lawsuits could stop other companies from cooperating with U.S. authorities in the future, Cheney added. &quot;Liability protection, retroactive to [the Sept. 11 attacks] is the right thing to do, it&#39;s the right thing to help us prevent another 9/11 down the road,&quot; he said.AT&amp;T and other telecom carriers are being sued in U.S. court in San Francisco by civil liberties groups and individuals who allege that the surveillance program is illegal.Free Press countered Cheney&#39;s remarks by saying telecom carriers should be held accountable for illegal spying.&quot;Phone companies are supposed to deliver our messages, not spy on them,&quot; Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, said in a statement. &quot;But at every turn, these telco giants trample on basic constitutional principles of privacy and free speech. When you break the law, you should face the consequences.&quot;The lawsuits will show U.S. residents that phone company spying &quot;will not be tolerated,&quot; he added.The American Civil Liberties Union has called the Protect America Act, the &quot;Police America Act.&quot; The legislation &quot;allows for massive, untargeted collection of international communications without court order or meaningful oversight by either Congress or the courts,&quot; the ACLU says on its Web site. &quot;It contains virtually no protections for the U.S. end of the phone call or e-mail, leaving decisions about the collection, mining, and use of Americans&#39; private communications up to this administration.&quot;Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said Wednesday he&#39;ll block the legislation with a filibuster if it comes to the Senate floor with telecom immunity provisions attached.&quot;Few things are more detrimental to this country than the erosion of and attack on the civil liberties we enjoy,&quot; Dodd said in a statement. &quot;More and more, Americans are rejecting the false choice that has come to define this administration: security or liberty, but never, ever both.&quot;
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President Bush pressured the House on Thursday to finish a bill giving the government more leeway to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails of suspected terrorists
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In a day of political brinkmanship, President Bush pressured the House on Thursday to finish a bill giving the government more leeway to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails of suspected terrorists. House Democrats didn't budge, prompting their Republican colleagues to stage a walkout down the Capitol steps.
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The Senate on Tuesday approved new rules for government eavesdropping on phone calls and e-mails, giving the White House much of the latitude it wanted and granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Congress has wrapped up its work for the year by passing a bill that would make it illegal to obtain a person's phone records without permission. The Senate late Friday passed the Law Enforcement and Phone Privacy Protection Act, spurred in part by revelations in September that Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) investigators had used deceptive means to gain access to phone records of reporters and company board members. The bill, sponsored by Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, would make illegal the act of pretexting -- tricking phone companies into giving up private records by pretending to be a customer. The bill, which passed by voice vote in the Senate, allows prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines of up to US$500,000 for deceiving phone companies into handing over records such as phone logs. The bill, which now awaits President George Bush's signature before it becomes law, also outlaws the sale of phone records and adds penalties for people who obtain phone records as a way to help commit a violent crime. Privacy advocates have worried that criminals are using phone records obtained through pretexting to stalk potential victims. Smith praised the Senate for passing the legislation. "This data fraud can adversely affect Americans' lives," he said in a statement. "A careful study of these records may reveal details of our medical or financial life. It may even identify our occupation or physical location â a serious concern for undercover police officers and victims of stalking or domestic violence." Members of Congress began raising concerns about the sale of phone records a year ago, after the Electronic Privacy Information Center in mid-2005 filed a federal complaint about dozens of Internet-based companies selling phone records for less than $100. The issue gained traction late this year after HP officials revealed that investigators there had used pretexting to gain access to board members' and reporters' phone records in an effort to find which board members were leaking details of meetings. After members of Congress lectured HP officials about the use of pretexting in a September hearing, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer in October filed felony charges against former HP Chairman Patricia Dunn, a former HP legal counsel and three private investigators. Last week,Â HP agreed to a $14.5 million settlement in the California civil lawsuit related to the company's spying scandal. The civil suit made the same allegations that the state made in its criminal filing in October against the HP executives and investigators. Trade group USTelecom, representing large telecom carriers, praised the Senate for passing the pretexting bill. The legislation will "reinforce the efforts of telecom carriers to ensure that customer records remain secure," Walter McCormick Jr., president and chief executive of USTelecom, said in a statement. Â