[SustainableTompkins] [TCBORDC] Sign on to letter opposing immunizing telecoms

[Tony Del Plato]

Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 12:21:03 -0400
Subject: [TCBORDC] Sign on to letter opposing immunizing telecoms
     Please consider requesting your group to sign on to this important
letter.

>BORDC invites your group to sign on to the following letter opposing
>legislation that would immunize telecom companies that have been providing
>call detail information to the federal government in President Bush's
>illegal warrantless wiretapping program.  If Congress grants immunity to
>these telecom companies, there is a lot of information we will never learn
>about the program and how it operates.
>
>Please read over the letter below, and if your group would like to be a
>signatory to the letter, please write to kmcclellan at dcaclu.org.  Give her
>your organization's name and state, and mention whether your group is
local,
>statewide, regional, or national.  The deadline for signing on is close of
>business Thursday, October 19.
>
>This is a letter you can pass on to allied organizations in your area so
>that the opposition to this legislation is clear to your Congressional
>representatives.
>
>
>Paul DeMarco
>BORDC Eastern Organizer
>413.582.0110
>pdemarco at bordc.org
>http://www.bordc.org
>
>October 19, 2006
>
>To the House and Senate Leadership
>
>         The undersigned organizations are dedicated to the proposition
that
>protecting our national security does not require sacrificing the privacy
>and civil liberties of innocent Americans. We write to oppose immunizing
>telephone and Internet service providers that may have provided the
>government with call detail information about the private communications
and
>e-mails of innocent Americans in violation of state and federal laws. The
>two drafts of immunization language would end independent state
>investigations into whether either states' laws or Constitution were
>violated and would also end suits based on violations of federal law
>
>         According to media reports, several telecommunication companies
> facilitated
>the National Security Agency's ("NSA") warrantless secret eavesdropping of
>innocent Americans by providing information about their customers' private
>communications to the government in violation of state and federal laws.
>The records disclosed reportedly include call origin and endpoint
>information, call duration, and billing details. A federal judge in San
>Francisco denied attempts to dismiss a customer's suit against AT&T
>regarding this facilitation.  Nine states Attorneys General and/or Public
>Utilities Commissions have initiated investigations into whether these
>companies violated state laws by providing their citizens' private
>information to the NSA.  These ongoing actions would all be terminated and
>the pending suits would be swept into a secret court by legislation
>currently pending before Congress.
>
>Two similar immunization provisions are being considered and both should be
>opposed.  A bill that would authorize the NSA's warrantless eavesdropping
>program passed the House of Representatives on September 28, 2006 (H.R.
>5825).  It would terminate all pending and future legal action against any
>provider of communication services (or any other person) for furnishing
>information, facilities or assistance to the government in connection with
>secret communication intelligence programs.  Thus, it would eliminate
>investigations based on both alleged federal and state law violations. A
>similar immunity provision was made part of the Senate version of the
>Protecting Consumer Phone Records Act (S. 2389), which would eliminate
>investigations based on state law claims, and a back-door effort was also
>made to attach immunity provisions to the Port Security bill.
>
>Granting blanket immunity to these service providers would be a grave
>violation of the privacy rights of many Americans who have never been
>suspected of communicating with terrorists and who may have been harmed by
>these surveillance programs.  The Fourth Amendment to the United States
>Constitution has always been interpreted to prohibit such warrantless
>eavesdropping on innocent Americans.  Accordingly, independent
>investigations into the actions of telecommunications companies who
>facilitated this unconstitutional eavesdropping should be allowed to
proceed
>to determine whether laws were broken.
>
>These immunity provisions also impinge on states' rights by nullifying
their
>ability to enforce state privacy laws and regulate businesses operating
>within their jurisdictions.  States' privacy laws and states' Constitutions
>are often more protective of individuals' privacy than are federal laws.
>Congress should not foreclose the independent investigations by states'
>officials who are charged with enforcing states' laws. That Congress would
>consider these immunity provisions without even knowing the scope of the
NSA
>domestic spying programs, what information these telecommunication
companies
>may have provided to the government, or how they may be profiting from
these
>arrangements is unconscionable.
>
>The security of the private communications of all Americans would be in
>jeopardy if telecommunications companies face no risk for violating the
law,
>and immunity should not be granted in the dark.  Congress needs to know how
>these programs work before considering blanket immunity.  We urge the
>Congressional leadership to reject any attempt to include telecommunication

>company immunity provisions in any bill before the Congress, and to vote
>against any bill that contains such provisions.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>American Civil Liberties Union
>Bill of Rights Defense Committee
>DownsizeDC.org

               -------------
IMPORTANT NOTE: The entire text of the City of Ithaca "Resolution to Defend
the Rights and Civil Liberties of the People of Ithaca" can be found, in
it's entirety, at < http://www.bordc.org/Ithaca-res.htm>
              ----------------
To see FBI letter sent to Ithaca in response to our Resolution, go to
<http://www.bordc.org/Ithacafbi.pdf>
You'll need to be able to do pdf files--Acrobat.
               -------------

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TCBORDC/

-- 
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a
revolutionary act."
George Orwell.

-- 
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a
revolutionary act."
George Orwell.