[289] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Democrats Continue Spineless Course on Wiretapping
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Thu Oct 18 13:17:00 2007
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:56:40 -0700 (PDT)
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Democrats Continue Spineless Course on Wiretapping Bill
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000319.html
Greetings. Just to update, Democrats in Congress continue their
disgraceful march toward selling the American people down the river,
by rolling over and playing dead for the Bush administration on the
wiretapping bill ( http://tinyurl.com/379ae6 ).
I expected such attitudes and games from the GOP of course, but the
Democrats' performance on this matter is abysmal, even given that
their majority in the Senate is very thin.
Not only are the civil liberties and basic rights of *Americans*
being put at risk by these Congressional actions, in a manner more
fitting of the old Soviet Union than the United States, but Congress
seems ready to grant retroactive immunity to the telephone giants
for their blatantly illegal handing over of customer records and
related clearly illicit activities.
Crafting a wiretapping bill that would be effective against foreign
targets without decimating American rights is certainly possible.
But Congress doesn't have the fortitude or ethical compass for
protecting *our* rights any more. Just say the word "terrorist" and
everything else goes out the window in a blast of political
oneupmanship.
I do hope that you'll remember Congress' actions in this regard come
the next election.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
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