Congress extends surveillance law another 15 days
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The U.S. Congress has granted a temporary 15-day extension to a controversial law that allows the government to conduct telephone surveillance on suspected terrorists without first obtaining a court warrant.
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The White House warned Democratic leaders yesterday that President Bush would veto a proposal to extend an expiring surveillance law by 30 days, saying that Congress should quickly approve a Senate bill favored by the Bush administration.
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Broad spying powers temporarily approved by Congress in August appear likely to lapse this week after the White House and House Democrats produced no clear resolution.
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A plan to use U.S. spy satellites for domestic security and law-enforcement missions is moving forward after being delayed for months because of privacy and civil liberties concerns.
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Senate Republicans blocked Majority Leader Harry Reid's attempt Tuesday to extend the life of a surveillance law due to expire Feb. 1, raising the stakes for a vote expected later this week on a new version of the law.
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The White House told lawmakers it would send Congress a revised proposal late Monday for dealing with terrorism suspects as the number of GOP senators publicly opposing President Bush's initial plan continued to grow.
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The House on Thursday passed the second bill in three days that would outlaw &quot;spyware,&quot; irritating software that quietly monitors the activities of Internet users.
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Iraq's U.S.-backed government said on Thursday it was extending emergency powers equivalent to martial law for a further 30 days to try to safeguard Jan. 30 elections under threat from deadly attacks by insurgents.
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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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Under the guise of reining in the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program, the Senate Judiciary Committee approves a bill that would dramatically expand the government's domestic surveillance capabilities, and usher in a new age of rampant monitoring. By Ryan Singel.
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A bill authorizing the president's warrantless wiretapping program stalls in committee. Supporters charge election-year obstructionism, but opponents want tougher oversight on the executive branch.
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A Republican-led congressional  committee on Wednesday rejected concerns about civil liberties  and passed a bill to expand the U.S. government's power to  track terror suspects and deport people seen as a risk.
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The chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security today questioned the legal basis of a new Bush administration plan to expand domestic law enforcement agencies' access to powerful satellite and aircraft sensor surveillance technology, contending that the administration has failed to build in...
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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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The White House is nearing an agreement with Congress on legislation that would write President Bush&#039;s warrantless surveillance program into law, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said Sunday.
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White House has given federal agencies 120 days to develop and implement a security breach notification policy.
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Measure would expand Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court's oversight of eavesdropping.