U.S. House Votes Today On Telecom ImmunityMet last night in secret to discuss wiretap laws...
11:43AM Friday Mar 14 2008 by Karl Bodetags: legal · telco · privacy · PoliticsThe U.S. House of Representatives last night conducted their first secret meeting in 25 years to discuss a renewed FISA wiretap bill they're proposing that will not include immunity for the nation's phone companies. With Congress critters on the cusp of another two-week vacation starting next week, they're supposed to
vote today on whether to pass the new bill.
The bill they're preparing to consider, an update to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), is opposed by the Bush administration, Republicans, and some conservative Democrats in large part because it would not grant retroactive immunity to telephone companies sued on allegations of unlawfully opening their networks to the National Security Agency. Democrats contend there's no evidence, classified or otherwise, that such legal protections are necessary.
The House has held just six such closed-door secret sessions since 1825. You can follow today's vote via a live stream
at CSPAN.
Update: The vote passed 213-197. See
additional coverage.
