Telecom Complicity

by Monica Smith [courtesy of Blog for America]

As you've probably heard, a number of telecommunications corporations made their telephone lines and satellite connections available to the federal government so their customers could be spied on without their knowledge, consent, or the approval of a court.

Now, while it's entirely legal for these corporations to collect all kinds of personal information about their customers in the process of conducting their business, it's against the law to hand this information over to government agencies unless they've persuaded a judge that they really need it for a law-enforcement purpose. In addition, in not keeping their customers' private information secure, some corporations have violated their duty to their customers and are being sued in court for damages.

So, what are the corporations to do? That's easy. Taking a page from the Bush Administration, their response to a law they don't like is to try to get it changed, after the fact. And that's where we're at.

As part of some amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, some members of