WIS10: Wiretapping US: House approves Democratic surveillance bill that denies immunity to companies for spying on Public on behalf of US Government

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Wiretapping US: House approves Democratic surveillance bill that denies immunity to companies for spying on Public on behalf of US Government

A terror surveillance bill that President Bush has promised to veto is on its way to the Senate. The House bill approved this afternoon doesn't grant immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the government spy on Americans after September 11th without warrants. The Senate has passed its own version, and it includes that immunity. Bush says the companies shouldn't be punished for helping the government, and that he'd veto the version approved by the House. The majority say a judge should decide if laws were broken. About 40 lawsuits are pending before a single federal judge in California. Telecommunications companies are being sued by people and organizations alleging the companies violated wiretapping and privacy laws.

In Europe the fact is that in most of the countries there wiretapping is still de rigueur—practiced more regularly and with less oversight than in the United States. Most Europeans either don't know about this or, more likely, simply don't care. The extensive European taps are not new developments, made in the heat of passion after the London and Madrid bombings. European governments have been bugging phones for decades.

Recently Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Britain gave the green light for wiretap evidence to be used in court cases, "provided strict conditions" are met. The move would end an unusual culture of secrecy surrounding telephone taps in Britain, one of the few countries where secret tapings are not used to secure convictions.

In theory, the European Convention on Human Rights forbids "arbitrary wiretapping," but, as we've learned in the United States, "arbitrary" is in the ear of the wiretapper. In this case credit must be given to the US House of Representatives for attacking the Bush Administrations infringement on the citizens right to privacy while the EU Parliament is backing away from tackling the problem.