ALERT: Tell them NO IMMUNITY = Senate and House Moving on Spying Bills By Ryan Singel

NOW is when to communicate to ALL Congress members to not encourage corporate law breaking by forgiving crimes after the fact!

SAY NO to Telecom immunity. FOCUS on Sen. Feinstein in particular! (202) 224-3841 http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.Home
Thank Sen. Feingold for his initiative in opposition to the Intelligence Comm. markup. http://feingold.senate.gov/contact.html

Meanwhile, on C-SPAN, they still are not back to the FISA debate.

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Senate and House Moving on Spying Bills
By Ryan Singel - November 15, 2007
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/senate-and-hous.html

Congress is contemplating making more changes to the nation's spy laws Thursday - including considering proposals to grant amnesty to the nation's telecoms for violating the nation's privacy laws and to let the NSA continue to wiretap inside the United States without individual warrants. The move is an attempt to scale back, in part, the wide powers Congress handed to the government in August in rush legislation that was passed after the administration said the nation was in immediate danger.

The House is set to vote on their modifications of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as the Restore Act as soon as 3 p.m. this afternoon. At the same time, the Senate Judiciary Committee is marking up a companion measure that passed through the Senate Intelligence committee earlier this month.

The Senate Intelligence bill includes blanket immunity for telecoms that are being sued for violating the nation's privacy laws for helping the government target Americans for surveillance without getting court warrants. The House bill does not have that provision, and the Senate Judiciary committee will be debating that issue this afternoon.

That committee has 10 Democrats and 9 Republicans, but two Democrats on the committee - Sens. Dianne Feinstein (California) and Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island) voted to include that immunity in the Senate Intelligence Committee vote in October. ....

White House Spy Docs Show Surveillance Was Illegal, Senator Feingold Charges
By Ryan Singel - Oct 18, 2007 - http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/white-house-spy.html#previouspost


Senator Russell Feingold, (D-Wisconsin), who cast the only Senate vote against the Patriot Act and now sits on the Select Intelligence committee, seems to have looked at secret spying documents given by the White House to that committee and found that they do not exonerate the government's secret spying programs or the phone and internet companies that secretly aided them.

The White House seemingly provided the documents in exchange for legislation that would free its telecom partners from being sued by Americans for violating their privacy. The Senate Intelligence Committee is holding a closed meeting on the bill today.
According to a press release:

"When the Committee considers this legislation today, I will also fight to reject immunity for anyone alleged to have cooperated with the Administration’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program. The documents made available by the White House for the first time this week only further demonstrate that the program was illegal and that there is no basis for granting retroactive immunity ......

If they were doing it and still couldn't stop the hijackings, what good is it?

Before 9/11, NSA Asked Qwest for Network Access, Not Phone Records, National Journal Reports
By Ryan Singel - Nov 02, 2007 - http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/before-911-nsa-.html#previouspost


The National Security Agency asked telecom giant Qwest to let the nation's spies monitor its telecom networks 7 months before 9/11 in order to look for hackers and foreign-government e-attacks, the National Journal's Shane Harris reports today.

Though Qwest was seeking contracts from the NSA, its then CEO Joseph Nacchio denied repeated requests to let the NSA monitor its network, and later also turned down requests to turn over billions of customer records to the government, asking both times for legal orders, according to media reports and statements in Nacchio court records.

Nacchio was convicted of selling shares in 2001 with knowledge that the company wouldn't make its revenue targets. According to court documents unsealed in October, Nacchio was blocked from arguing that he believed that the company would make its public projections, thanks to classified NSA contracts, but that the NSA withheld them as punishment for his unwillingness to help the NSA without being legally ordered to do so.

Those unsealed, but redacted documents explosively hinted that the NSA asked for call records just days after President Bush took office, but Harris reports the requests were different. .......

Expect more procedural attempts to block this by the lackeys for the illegal surveillance Junta before a floor vote.

:kick:

The struggle to ensure that the telecoms do not receive immunity must continue. Both houses must still vote, then a conference comm.

KEEP UP THE FULL COURT PRESS!!

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In Twist, Senate Judiciary Spying Bill Lacks Immunity for Telecoms
By Ryan Singel Nov 15, 2007 | 5:13 -
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/in-twist-senate.html

Civil liberties groups got a stunningly unexpected win Thursday as the Senate Judiciary panel passed their version of the new government spying bill out of committee without including a provision giving immunity to telecoms being sued for helping the government secretly spy on Americans.

The biggest winner from the development is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, whose suit against AT&T in federal court would almost certainly have been wiped out by the immunity provision.

The provision - which was part of the version passed by the Senate Intelligence committee in mid-October - was widely expected to make it into the bill, due to the administration's full court press on the issue,

US Senate Panel Causes Confusion With Action Over FISA
Dow Jones - Nov 15, 2007: 06:56 PM EST
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200711151856DOWJONESDJONLINE001010_FORTUNE5.htm


Lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee approved 10-to-9 Thursday a bill authorizing the federal government's warrantless wiretapping program without a clause offering immunity to telephone companies ...

Just minutes before the vote, the committee had voted 11-to-8 in favor of immunity for the phone companies.

Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Cal., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., voted with the nine Republicans on the panel in favor of preserving the immunity clause.

.... minutes after this vote, Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, called for a separate vote to approve the bill without the section of the legislation with the immunity provisions.

The committee approved Leahy's call 10-9, along party lines.

......

Lobbyists and committee aides said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is now left with the decision of what version ....
Reid does have the prerogative of reconciling the two versions of the bill before it reaches the floor....

.... to introduce an amendment to the legislation on the floor of the Senate. ... Reid would decide whether such an amendment would require a normal cloture vote of 60 votes or a straight majority of 51 votes to be reattached to the legislation....

Reid will have no say on the subject of immunity.

And, it will also cause Reid to move the version w/o immunity to the floor.
That and the sheep commercial :rofl:

Right NOW and just started

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2289423

will now go to the floor. The intelligence comm. version was reported with immunity. Now, it is in Majority Leader Reid's control. FOCUS on Reid in your efforts.

CONTACT Sen Harry Reid http://reid.senate.gov/contact/

Phone: 202-224-3542 / Fax: 202-224-7327
Toll Free for Nevadans: 1-866-736-7343

Urge Senator Reid and others to:

"move the Senate Judiciary Committee version of the FISA bill to the floor"
"not collaborate with Bush's illegal spying by encouraging and rewarding corporate crime with retroactive immunity"
"seek investigation of the Bush administration punishment of telecoms who refused to disobey the law"
"seek investigation of the Bush administration rewarding of corporations that collaborated in the administration's illegal activities"
"seek investigation of the extent of the illegal conduct of both the administration and the telecomns"

Why are the Rs in a tizzy? #8. Requires an Audit of the President’s Surveillance Program and Other Warrantless Surveillance Programs

In effect, a law requiring Bush to report his crimes :rofl:

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Summary Of The RESTORE Act of 2007 (Responsible Surveillance That is Overseen, Reviewed and Effective)
http://thinkprogress.org/restore-act-summary/

Bill Summary

Security and Liberty: The bill provides the Intelligence Community with effective tools to conduct surveillance of foreign targets outside the United States but restores Constitutional checks and balances that were not contained in the Protect America Act (PAA–the Administration’s FISA bill.)

The RESTORE ACT:

1. Clarifies that No Court Warrant is Required to Intercept Communications of Non-United States Persons When Both Ends of the Communications are Outside the United States.

2. Requires an Individualized Court Warrant from the FISA Court When Targeting Persons in the United States. (Same as current law.)

3. Creates a Program of Court Authorized Targeting of Non-U.S. Persons Outside the United States. Grants the Attorney General (AG) and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) authority to apply to the FISA Court for an order to conduct surveillance of foreign targets, or groups of targets,

.....

8. Requires an Audit of the President’s Surveillance Program and Other Warrantless Surveillance Programs. This audit mandates a report and documents related to these programs be provided to Congress in unclassified form with a classified annex.

Judiciary Committee strips telecom immunity from FISA bill.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/15/judiciary-committee-strips-telecom-immunity-from-fisa-bill/

.....

UPDATE: Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) issued the following statement:

“The FISA legislation reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee today is a distinct improvement over the legislation passed by the Intelligence Committee last month. Though it still falls short in many areas, the bill includes several significant provisions that will better protect the privacy of innocent Americans. I applaud Senator Leahy for the package of changes he put together, and I appreciate my colleagues’ support in passing two additional amendments that I offered to further enhance privacy protections. I hope that, when the full Senate considers this issue, the Majority Leader brings up the Senate Judiciary Committee bill instead of the badly flawed Intelligence Committee alternative.

“There is still much to be done to fix this bill. In addition, the issue of retroactive immunity for companies that allegedly participated in the President’s warrantless wiretapping program will be fought out on the floor. I will continue to strongly oppose retroactive immunity when the full Senate considers this legislation.

“As a member of both the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees I have been fighting for months to pass a strong FISA bill that adequately protects the privacy of Americans who are not suspected of having done anything wrong. I will oppose and filibuster any bill on the Senate floor that fails this test or contains retroactive immunity.”

Aug 05, 2007 = http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x69944

Keith Olbermann covers the breaking showdown between President Bush and Congress. Can you believe that Mr. One-Full-Year-Of-My-Eight-Years-In-Offic e-Was-Spent-On-Vacation is complaining about Congress taking their August break instead of giving him the rubber stamp he's looking for his wiretapping program? Note the playing of the fear card. Jonathan Turley joins Keith and tries to make sense in this Bizarro World confrontation, and the complicit Congress isn't spared his scorn.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x45444

The US House of Reps debated changes to FISA requested by the Bush administration.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x68044

WOW !!! Added: Nov 07, 2007 YouTube Views = 31,820

MUST SEE: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x69965

Aren't they smart enough to know that giving the telecoms immunity in a matter that hasn't been fully investigated yet is a BAD idea? If not, why the fuck are they in Congress?

I don't normally send out an email at the end of the day, but something incredible just happened.

This evening, the Senate Democrats finally stood up to President Bush. And it was all because of DFA members like you.

Senate Democrats are now refusing to let Bush get away with his latest egregious abuse of power. They voted unanimously for a bill WITHOUT retroactive immunity to the major telecom companies who broke the law.

Everyone expected Dianne Feinstein to vote with the Republicans, but because of your work Senator Feinstein did the right thing and voted for the bill without retroactive immunity.

DFA stepped in. We sent a call to action, and you stepped up. With over 175 calls per hour totaling 2,399 reported calls to Senate Majority Leader Reid, DFA members across the country put the pressure on Democrats to do the right thing. And we won!

DFA stands up to Democrats who align themselves with Bush. But we can't do it without you. Contribute $15 today so we can keep the pressure on.

http://www.DemocracyforAmerica.com/contribute

Now, because of your action, Bush's allies in his illegal war against our civil liberties will be held accountable. Because of you, the law will apply to everyone -- without special exceptions for Bush's corporate buddies.

And most importantly, together, we stood up to a Democrat who too often forgets which party she belongs to. And we won!

Whether it's defeating Republicans or holding Democrats accountable, your contribution of $15 gives DFA the tools to take our country back.

http://www.DemocracyforAmerica.com/contribute

Thank you for taking action to hold the Bush Administration accountable. Tonight we celebrate; tomorrow we get back to work.

-Charles

Related thread Nov-09-07: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2245762

would have loved to hear him speak

FISA and America's Basic Freedoms
Let's Not Repeat the Mistakes of the Patriot Act
By Sen. RUSSELL FEINGOLD
http://www.counterpunch.org/feingold11082007.html


I sit on the Intelligence Committee, and there is no question that some of that committee's work must be conducted behind closed doors due to the sensitive nature of the information it handles on a regular basis. But it would have been far preferable if the Intelligence Committee had considered its FISA legislation in a more open process. As it drafted its bill, that Committee would have benefited from the input of a wide variety of experts. But those experts, who have quite a different point of view on the issues raised by this bill than the Administration, were not able to comment on it before the committee marked the bill up.

So I am particularly glad that the Judiciary Committee is holding this open markup, and that it has held open hearings on these issues. The public should have the ability to see what we are doing on this very important issue. In addition, this committee's expertise in privacy and civil liberties, and FISA, is crucial to this debate.

This committee's consideration is also important because the bill reported by the Intelligence Committee, which Senator Wyden and I voted against, is badly flawed. Given the promises that were made after the rushed consideration of the Protect America Act last summer, I was very disappointed that the bill reported by the Intelligence Committee did not do more to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans.

As the members of this committee are well aware, before leaving town for the August recess, Congress bowed to pressure from the administration by vastly expanding the government's ability to eavesdrop without a court-approved warrant. ....

ACLU Cheers No Telecom Immunity Vote from Judiciary Committee, Lauds Chairman Leahy, Sen. Feingold and Rep. Holt’s Actions (11/15/2007)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/32818prs20071115.html

Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union is delighted that the Senate Judiciary Committee chose not to address telecom immunity in its version of a bill updating Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Although the rest of the bill does not pass constitutional muster, the ACLU applauds the Committee for not letting the bells off the hook.

Caroline Fredrickson, director of the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU said, "We appreciate the work of Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) to protect the civil liberties of all Americans. We still have reservations with both the House and Senate bills, and will continue to work to improve the legislation. It is heartening to know that people who feel their privacy was violated by the phone companies and by their own government are one step closer to having their day in court.

"The ACLU is asking Senators to build in more civil liberties and privacy protections when the bill is considered by the whole Senate and to keep telecom immunity out of the final bill. We look to the leadership of Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) who has pledged a filibuster of any bill with telecom immunity in it."

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass the RESTORE Act later this evening. Fredrickson said, "Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) and the Progressive Caucus deserve credit for fighting for important improvements in the bill. The ACLU will fight in the coming months to keep immunity for telecommunications companies out of the final bill."

Fredrickson said, "Americans whose privacy was violated deserve their day in court against the telephone companies."

For more information on the ACLU's work on FISA, go to:
www.aclu.org/fisa

Stage Set for Senate Immunity Showdown As House Passes Spy Bill Without Telecom Amnesty
By Ryan Singel - Nov 15, 2007
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/stage-set-for-s.html




The House passed a spy bill Thursday evening 227-189 that rolls back some of the powers given to the NSA this summer and excludes amnesty for phone and internet companies being sued for helping the government secretly spy on Americans.

The passage of the so-called Restore Act came just hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee surprised civil liberties groups by not including immunity in the bill it voted out of committee today.

The successful passage of the House bill - which allows the executive branch to unilaterally order domestic communication companies to help it spy on foreigners only when the government knows all parties to the conversation are outside the U.S. - puts the spotlight on the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) must decide which version of the bill to send to the Senate floor ..........

They are spinning this as "providing unprecedented constitutional protections to our sworn enemies" instead of

"providing unprecedented constitutional protections to our citizens" by requiring Bush to report how he illegally spied on US!

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Smith Expresses Concerns about Intelligence Bill
http://www.swnebr.net/newspaper/cgi-bin/articles/articlearchiver.pl?162507

Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) today opposed H.R. 3773, the RESTORE Act, pointing to serious flaws in the bill which would weaken the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) ....

“This bill falls far short of giving our intelligence community what it needs to do its job – while at the same time infringing on our civil liberties by creating and maintaining a single database listing all Americans identified in foreign intelligence information. This act is flawed and would significantly damage the intelligence community’s ability to effectively protect us from foreign threats,” Smith said.

“In the 30 years since Congress enacted FISA, telecommunications technology has dramatically changed. Instead of providing unprecedented constitutional protections to our sworn enemies as this bill does, Congress should focus on keeping the American people safe,”

Senate Surveillance Bill Still Authorizes Warrantless Surveillance
By Spencer Ackerman - Nov 16, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004733.php


The version of the surveillance bill that came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday (and that was approved in a do-over vote today) strips out the hotly-debated immunity provision for telecommunications companies. But several other proposals disliked by civil libertarians remain. For instance: like the Senate Select Intelligence Committee version that served as its template, there isn't a role for the FISA Court in approving surveillance of foreign-to-domestic communications. That power, formerly in the hands of an independent court -- to approve quaint things like "warrants" -- would reside with the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence.

Comments Kate Martin of the Center for National Security Studies:

"Even with the substantial improvements made by the Committee yesterday, the bill still authorizes unconstitutional surveillance of Americans' international communications; the bill eliminates the prior judicial approval for such surveillance that was contained in FISA before the Protect America Act and is required by the Fourth Amendment."

So no matter what Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) brings to the floor, it looks like lights-out for the FISA Court here.