cleetus - Slashdot User

Submission + - Dodd beats telecom spying immunity

Submitted by cleetus on Monday December 17, 2007 @09:47PM

cleetus writes: Earlier this evening Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled the FISA bill which had retroactive immunity for spying telecoms from consideration on the US Senate floor. This bill, discussed on /. earlier today, would have shielded telecoms who turned data over to the government from lawsuits over 4th Amendment rights violations. The threat of a full scale filibuster from Senator Chris Dodd (which was partially underway already) was enough to force Reid to pull the bill. While the fight over immunity is over for now, but the bill will be brought up again at some point next month so vigilance it still required.

Submission + - Senator Blocks Telecom Immunity Bill 2

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Thursday October 18, 2007 @05:38PM

Hugh Pickens writes: "Senator Chris Dodd announced that he will place a "hold" on the wiretapping bill that would reportedly provide immunity to large telephone companies, such as AT&T and Verizon that cooperated with the Bush's warrantless wiretap program. A "hold" is an informal, though long-established way for a senator to block progress on legislation in the Senate by allowing a Senator to maintain their right to filibuster a bill. "The President has no right to secretly eavesdrop on the conversations and activities of law abiding American citizens and anyone who has aided and abetted him in these illegal activities should be held accountable," Dodd announced on his Senate web site. "I will do everything in my power to stop Congress from shielding this President's agenda of secrecy, deception, and blatant unlawfulness.""

Submission + - Senator Slaps Down FISA Telecom Immunity (chrisdodd.com)

Submitted by cleetus on Thursday October 18, 2007 @05:29PM

cleetus writes: Today Senator Chris Dodd decided to put a hold on the FISA bill, one of the provisions of which would have granted immunity to any telecom which, if found to have acted in good faith, violated U.S. laws in turning over customer data to the government. According to TPM Election Central, "By doing this, Dodd can effectively hold up the telecom immunity bill, because bills are supposed to have unanimous consent in the Senate before going forward. One Senator can make it very difficult to bring a bill to the floor by objecting to allowing it to go to a vote." This throws a fairly big roadblock in front of this bill, covered by Slashdot earlier today.

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