WASHINGTON, July 30 (UPI) -- The ACLU has warned against giving U.S. telecom companies immunity for cooperating in illegal wiretaps.
The Bush administration's proposed legislation to strengthen the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act contains "a disturbing provision that would give complete immunity -- from criminal prosecution as well as civil liability -- for the telecom companies' participation in the National Security Agency's illegal warrantless wiretapping program," Caroline Fredrickson, director of the Washington Legislative Office of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement this weekend.
"It is unprecedented and undemocratic to give retroactive and sweeping immunity to an entire industry. Not to mention, giving blanket immunity before a full and public airing of the facts," Frederickson said.
"The telecom companies should not be handed a congressional pardon for breaking privacy laws. Who exactly is the administration looking out for when they ask Congress to let the phone companies off the hook for violating Americans' privacy?" she asked.
"Not for lack of trying, Congress has made little progress in finding out more about the administration's various violations of FISA during the warrantless wiretapping program," Frederickson said. "The Senate Judiciary Committee has asked politely for the legal rationale for the program nine times before issuing subpoenas, and has not yet gotten an answer due to consistent stonewalling by the administration and the Department of Justice."
The battle between U.S. human-rights groups and the Bush administration over the warrantless wiretap issue has been heating up. So far, the Republican minority in the U.S. House of Representatives has stayed loyal to the president on the issue.
