posted by Charles H. Russo on Oct 17
Today the RESTORE Act enters the final round in the US House of Representatives, where it will be presented to the House for a floor vote. The act is designed to restore some civil liberties lost under the current administration. While the RESTORE Act does not give telecoms such as AT&T immunity for helping the executive branch spy on Americans, a contingent of House representatives is trying to change that. And true to form, President George W. Bush has threatened to veto any bill lacking telecoms immunity.
Meanwhile, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has told a congressional committee that the government’s illegal dragnet electronic surveillance opens the door to even more privacy violations for Americans.The sheer volume of personal information collected and the databases in which that information is stored create a giant target for attackers who want to steal or expose Americans’ personal data.
In response to questions by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn explained that an increase in the number of databases introduces more points of vulnerability into the system, putting sensitive personal information from millions of people at risk. “We have all heard about security problems with government databases. A report from the Department of Homeland Security found 477 breaches in 2006 alone,” said Cohn. “The warrantless domestic surveillance going on now isn’t just illegal - it could expose your personal information to thieves and criminals.”
The committee asked EFF for input as part of its review of the Protect America Act, legislation that broadly expanded the National Security Agency’s authority to spy on Americans without warrants. The committee also sent questions to AT&T and other major telecommunications firms about their involvement in illegal surveillance activities. EFF provided the committee with information about the Hepting v. AT&T lawsuit. EFF represents the plaintiffs in this class-action lawsuit brought by AT&T customers, accusing the telecommunications company of violating their rights by illegally assisting the NSA’s domestic surveillance. The Hepting case is one of many lawsuits aimed at holding telecoms responsible for knowingly violating federal privacy laws with warrantless wiretapping and the illegal transfer of vast amounts of personal data to the government.
EFF also provided the committee with a legal analysis of the use of so-called “exigent letters” by the government to obtain information about Americans and about their “communities of interest.” These topics were raised by the committee in letters to the telecommunications carriers. EFF’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) work uncovered this illegal broadening of surveillance authority.
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