by DFA Staff [courtesy of Blog for America]

The Washington Post on the Protect America Act, telecom immunity, and the end of the world.

The Bush administration said yesterday that the government "lost intelligence information" because House Democrats allowed a surveillance law to expire last week, causing some telecommunications companies to refuse to cooperate with terrorism-related wiretapping orders.

But hours later, administration officials told lawmakers that the final holdout among the companies had relented and agreed to fully participate in the surveillance program, according to an official familiar with the issue.

The assertions and revisions marked the latest developments in the battle over the Protect America Act, a temporary surveillance law broadening the government's spying powers that expired last Saturday.

Danny

Communications Director

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Stella Richardson

California cities are moving quickly to install video surveillance cameras on public streets and plazas without regulations, with little or no public debate, and without an evaluation of their effectiveness, according to an ACLU report released earlier this year.

A public records survey done by the ACLU disclosed that, even though 37 cities have some type of video surveillance program and 10 are considering expansive programs, none has conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the cameras’ effectiveness [full list of cities and their responses]. Only 11 police departments have policies that even purport to regulate the use of video surveillance. The ACLU sent Public Records Act requests to 131 jurisdictions statewide and received responses from 119 cities.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]