Upcoming Senate vote may shield wiretap collaborators
560839
Politicians clear first hurdle toward approving sweeping legal rewrite that would crush lawsuits alleging spy illegal cooperation between the government and communications companies.
665227
The House is poised to vote Tuesday on an overhaul of the nation&#39;s intelligence apparatus, with the Senate likely to follow suit Wednesday.
695698
President George W. Bush's demand for immunity for telephone companies that participated in his warrantless domestic spying program won a test vote on Monday in the Democratic-led U.S. Senate.
649378
After clearing the House of Representatives, landmark legislation to revamp the US intelligence network heads for an expected approval in the Senate before President George W. Bush signs it into law.
414095
(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.
366246
Defying President George W. Bush, a   group of Senate Republicans on Wednesday said they would press   ahead with legislation to try foreign terrorism suspects that   the White House said would stifle CIA intelligence-gathering.
212819
A U.S. Senate committee approved a  bipartisan bill to tighten rules on government eavesdropping on  terrorism suspects, but a Democratic presidential candidate  said on Thursday he would try to block it.
21047
Union bargaining rights for airport screeners are still at issue as the Senate moves toward passage of a broad homeland security bill offering billions of dollars to state and local emergency workers to fight terrorism.
530746
The Bush administration gave guarded support to several terrorist surveillance bills Wednesday as Congress took up the sensitive issue of how to give legal backing to the president's warrantless wiretapping.
340162
Federal and industry experts grapple with how to apply CALEA wiretap standards to something that lawmakers didn't anticipate 10 years ago -- voice over IP. Michael Grebb reports from Washington.
385343
The Senate voted Monday against extending the eavesdropping law beyond Feb. 1, increasing political pressure to pass a new version of the bill this week.
220763
The U.S. House of Representatives  will vote as soon as next week on a measure to crack down on  deceptive "spyware" that hides in users' computers and secretly  monitors their activities, key lawmakers said on Wednesday.
223091
The Senate is expected to pass the 9/11 intelligence reform bill late this afternoon after the House passed the legislation 336-75 last night.
614859
The Senate yesterday approved a sweeping measure that would expand the government's clandestine surveillance powers, delivering a key victory to the White House by approving immunity from lawsuits for telecommunications companies that cooperated with intelligence agencies in domestic spying after...
390115
Congress weighs a bill to restrict cooperation between U.S. companies and digital dictatorships.
6651
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday backed  a Democratic-sponsored measure that would give new labor  protections to airport screeners while seeking to address White  House concerns that federal authorities have flexibility to  respond to security threats.
160801
The FBI once regularly (and surreptitiously) broke into Americans' homes, offices. Now a Senate bill seems to offer immunity to anyone who helps the government do just that.