Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick


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Filed Under:
fisa, surveillance, telco immunity, wiretapping

Companies:
aclu, eff


ACLU Sues Over New Surveillance Act

from the ain't-over-yet dept

Following Congress granting President Bush the "get out of jail free" card he demanded, it probably comes as no surprise that he's signed the bill into law -- claiming (laughably) that the bill was designed to "protect the liberties of our citizens." It's unclear what in the new bill does that -- though there's plenty that does the opposite. Almost immediately, the ACLU has sued to challenge the constitutionality of the bill, saying that it appears to violate the 4th Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure without probable cause. Meanwhile, the EFF is also preparing to sue over both the telco immunity issue and the expanded surveillance powers. All of these efforts are probably long shots, but it means this isn't over yet.

15 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 

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  1. by Cynic - Jul 10th, 2008 @ 8:43pm

    Of course, in a free country where the rights of the citizens are guaranteed by a constitution, the odds of the ACLU succeeding in a supposedly independent and just court system would be a long shot.

    I agree with others who have said that the terrorists did not win on September 11th, 2001, but they did on July 9th, 2008.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Sign the ACLU's ad

    by Anonymous Coward - Jul 10th, 2008 @ 8:51pm

    Add your name to the ACLU's ad protesting this new law:

    https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=Are_you_angry&s_s=aclu_FISA0708__web

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Re: Sign the ACLU's ad

    by Anonymous Coward - Jul 10th, 2008 @ 9:10pm

    sorry, shorter link to the same thing:

    http://www.aclu.org/fisaaction

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  4. Re: Re: Sign the ACLU's ad

    by Krubuntu - Jul 10th, 2008 @ 10:01pm

    Thank you so much for the link. Laws and amendments have been struck down by the courts before as being unconstitutional both at the State and Federal level. I can only hope and pray that the same occurs with this one.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  5. OMG - WHO THE @#%^&* do they think they are?

    by Another Bleepin Cynic - Jul 10th, 2008 @ 10:17pm

    Congress gave the executive branch the power to order Google, AT&T and Yahoo to forward to the government all e-mails, phone calls and text messages where one party to the conversation is thought to be overseas.

    I want to know how Google, AT&T and Yahoo et all have to say about this

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  6. Re: Re: Sign the ACLU's ad

    by ToySouljah - Jul 10th, 2008 @ 10:23pm

    Thank you both Anon's (lol) for the link(s). Also, threw in a donation while I was there :)

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  7. Re: Re: Re: Sign the ACLU's ad

    by Killer_Tofu - Jul 11th, 2008 @ 5:26am

    Re #6
    Sooo, did you click on the little link that was for the one time donation? Or did you accidentaly just fill in the first form, which is for a monthly subscription, so to speak? Hope you picked whichever you were going for. The one time donation link was rather tiny. But at least it was before the amounts for the monthly.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  8. Re: OMG - WHO THE @#%^&* do they think they are?

    by Anonymous Coward - Jul 11th, 2008 @ 5:45am

    I want to know how Google, AT&T and Yahoo et all have to say about this

    "That'll be $13.50"?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  9. Excuse me, Mr. Secret Agent

    by Matt - Jul 11th, 2008 @ 6:33am

    Excuse me Mr. Secret Agent in Charge of spying on us, I hate to tell you, i just wasted your time from actually tracking real terrorists because i just said the word "terrorists"

    Once again, Sorry to waste your time.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  10. Time to get a clue

    by Max - Jul 11th, 2008 @ 9:06am

    Maybe read what it says before making yourself look like a fool when someone else takes the time to read it. Don't be a media zombie.

    You write foolishly: "claiming (laughably) that the bill was designed to "protect the liberties of our citizens." It's unclear what in the new bill does that -- though there's plenty that does the opposite."

    WRONG!
    Get Educated:
    http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c110:./temp/~c110IqRMxH

    Techdirt is turning into dirt with such morons like this spouting off when they don't know what they're talking about.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  11. Re: Time to get a clue

    by Dur - Jul 11th, 2008 @ 9:19am

    Then why the hell do you read it?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  12. Resumes too!

    by Won - Jul 11th, 2008 @ 9:21am

    Any bets for Resumes also being shared and data-mined? I have a stack of crisp $100 bills that say all resumes posted on job websites are being collected and mined too.

    Any takers? I'll mortgage everything I have to find a bookie in Vegas to run this. Can't get better odds than this, and I want to become a millionaire before this is done.

    PLACE YOUR BETS!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  13. by tubes - Jul 11th, 2008 @ 10:36am

    This is just a start. We will soon be the North American Union, say hello to the Amero & goodbye to your Constitution & freedoms (well what was left of them)!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  14. This issue finally got me to give money to the EFF

    by William C Bonner - Jul 11th, 2008 @ 1:57pm

    1984? Big Brother? NewSpeak? Orwell just had it wrong by 20 years.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  15. Re: Time to get a clue

    by Anonymous Cowherd - Jul 11th, 2008 @ 3:59pm

    404, you moron.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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