Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said today that he has negotiated a proposed bill with the White House regarding the National Security Agency’s (NSA) illegal spying program. While the final bill is not public, a draft of the bill obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) would cut off meaningful legal review, sweeping current legal challenges out of the traditional court system and failing to require court review or congressional oversight of any future surveillance programs.
Formed in 1990, the EFF is a nonprofit organization that aims at championing the public interest in all battles affecting digital rights and challenges issues of free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights.
"This so-called compromise bill is not a concession from the White House, it's a rubber stamp for any future spying program dreamed up by the executive," says EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "In essence, this bill threatens to make court oversight of electronic surveillance voluntary rather than mandatory."
Although the bill creates a process for the executive branch to seek court review of its secret surveillance programs, it doesn't actually require the government to do so. The bill would, however, require that any lawsuit challenging the legality of any classified surveillance program be transferred, at the government's request, to the FISA Court of Review, a secret court with no procedures for hearing argument from anyone but the government. The bill would further allow the government to prevent the court from disclosing any information about the government's surveillance programs to opposing counsel, regardless of the court's strict security procedures therefore directly affecting the a class-action lawsuit the EFF filed against AT&T.
The nonprofit organization the suit against AT&T on January 31st , accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the NSA in its massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications.
In December of 2005, the press revealed that the government had instituted a comprehensive and warrant-less electronic surveillance program that ignored the careful safeguards set forth by Congress. This surveillance program, allegedly authorized by the President at least as early as 2001 and primarily undertaken by the NSA, intercepts and analyzes the communications of millions of ordinary Americans.
"When the privacy of millions of Americans is at stake, we deserve more than a closed hearing by a secret court," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien.
EFF has prevailed in lawsuits against the federal government, the FCC, the world's largest entertainment companies, and major electronics companies as well as defeated Congressional bills.
For the draft of the Specter bill:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/NSA/specter_draftbill_071306.pdf
