Ugh...House Passes new Surveillance Law

[JayS]

The more I read the more I’m starting to love this bill.

Numbers:

Hours given to the House to debate this bill: 1
Hours after its release the bill was voted on: 24

Quotes (NY Times):

With some AT&T and other telecommunications companies now facing some 40 lawsuits over their reported participation in the wiretapping program, Republican leaders described this narrow court review on the immunity question as a mere “formality.”

“The lawsuits will be dismissed,” Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 2 Republican in the House, predicted with confidence.

The proposal — particularly the immunity provision — represents a major victory for the White House after months of dispute. “I think the White House got a better deal than they even they had hoped to get,” said Senator Christopher Bond, the Missouri Republican who led the negotiations.

Let’s not forget that the FISA court already found at least part of the wiretapping program to be illegal.

The formality they’re talking, and the dismissals they’re talking about are for all the class action lawsuits the telco’s are facing. They are not talking about getting a wiretap warrant being a formaility.

Do you really think AT&T should be sued for millions, if not billions, for doing what the government told them was legal? I mean come on, we’re not talking black and white herding millions of jews to the gas chambers nuremberg trials here.