Should telecom titans such as AT&T and Verizon be given retroactive legal immunity for allowing the government to run wiretaps on their customers without a warrant?
That question has been one of the most hotly debated topics in Washington over the past few weeks as the White House has pushed relentlessly for such telecom immunity to be included in any reauthorization of the controversial Protect American Act, which expired last month.
The Bush Administration and supporters in Congress say such immunity is vital to protect national security, arguing big telecom companies who cooperated with the government on warrantless wiretapping activities are now facing crippling lawsuits. The White House says the phone companies were acting patriotically in granting the warrantless wiretaps, helping the government more easily fight terrorists in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. The White House also contends the warrantless wiretaps were legal.
Opponents say such immunity for the telecom companies is unnecessary and unwarranted if, as the White House contends, the warrantless wiretaps were indeed legal. If they were not, critics argue, the telecom companies should face lawsuits for participating in illegal wiretaps on their customers.
The House earlier this year passed legislation reauthorizing the Protect America Act that did not contain the retroactive immunity for telecom companies sought by the White House. A couple of weeks ago the Senate passed it own version of the reauthorization, which included the retroactive immunity for the telecoms. The White House has vowed to veto any legislation that does not include the immunity for telecom companies.
The White House has stepped up its attacks substantially on congressional opponents of telecom immunity in recent days, accusing them of hurting the administration’s national security and anti-terrorism efforts.
Proponents of telecom immunity, led by the White House, say getting a warrant might allow would-be terrorists to slip away from investigators, but such arguments are dubious at best. Current law allows investigators to put wiretaps in place and then go get the proper warrants within the next 72 hours in the very limited number of such “hot-on-the-trail” cases.
This week House leaders floated a new plan aimed at breaking the deadlock, but it stops well short of granting the blanket, retroactive immunity sought by the White House. Instead, according to a report in the New York Times, the tentative proposal would give the federal courts special authorization to hear classified evidence and decide whether the phone companies should be held liable.
The proposal could come before the House for a vote as soon as today.
There is no way we can do full justice to this complicated and vitally important debate in the limited space we have here.
That said, Americans have every right to expect their telecom companies to jealously guard their privacy of their personal information – whether it’s who they are calling or texting, what web sites they are visiting, or what they are buying on Amazon.com.
Telecom companies have absolutely no business simply surrendering such private information to the government or anyone else without an appropriate warrant. Legal liability helps assure these companies will think long and hard before taking such potentially reckless actions in the future, no matter who is making the request.
The latest proposal from the House to give federal courts special authorization to hear classified information and decide whether the phone companies should be held liable seems more than reasonable. A simple rejection of any sort of immunity for telecom companies would be even better.
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