FISA Reform Vote Postponed Until Next Week

The fight to revamp the invasive FISA bill passed on August 4, 2007 continues in the Congress. Current efforts to ensure the Fourth Amendment rights of citizens aren’t even being considered by the congress in this bill. Activists from both sides of the aisle continue to monitor the situation, but at this point, committee leaders seem to be in agreement on the bill, which would reform the issue of Fourth Amendment Rights, the issue of the warrantless wiretapping, and calls that are still deemed as subject to surveillance can be monitored, but the committee leaders are debating whether or how to protect telecommunications companies who have already cooperated with the governments NSA surveillance program.

The Senate appears to be supporting the administration's demands that the legislation grant retroactive immunity to those telecoms that released to the government private information on thousands of their customers' calls based on requests from the federal government for such information in violation of the FISA law. The House, at least for now, seems not to be inclined to give the companies such immunity, which would leave customers with no recourse for invasions of their privacy by the communications carriers.