The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to expand the government’s spy powers and offer legal protection to telecom companies that co-operated with President George W. Bush in wiretapping phone lines without warrant following the events of 9/11.
The Senate voted 68 to 29 in favour of implementing the check on civil liberties which also frees phone companies from charges of illegally collaborating with the government’s eavesdropping programs. Civilians who have brought these companies to court allege the wiretapping programs violate their rights.
There’s a clear dissonance within the vote’s results—the government professes to protect its citizens by abrogating civil liberties and, worse yet, is pushing retroactive laws to legalize previous violations of civilians’ privacy. The pending lawsuits would have forced the U.S. istration to justify its illegal wiretapping before a court of law. Instead, this bill completely absolved the istration’s wrongdoings.
Nineteen Democrats voted in favour of the Republican-led legislation—another disconcerting example of the party’s ongoing reluctance to appear weak in combating terrorism. But this very attempt to appear tough on terror proves the Democrats’ own weakness by leaving civil liberties deserted on the other side of the floor.
It’s a slippery slope should this law through the House of Representatives, as Bush is urging the House to do swiftly.
If telecom companies are above the law in disclosing personal data, Internet search engines can’t be far behind. Although most Internet service providers have refused to give up their clients’ information, the government seems unwilling to take no for an answer.
For an istration whose legacy is already rife with violations of civil liberties justified by the apparent threat of terrorism, pushing this bill through in its final stretch is ridiculous, and should further detract from Americans’ already abysmal confidence in their leaders.
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].