Update: House approves surveillance bill, protects telecoms

The House of Representatives has approved legislation that would continue a controversial surveillance program at the U.S. National Security Agency with limited court oversight, while likely ending lawsuits against telecommunications carriers that participated in the program. The House on Friday voted 293 to 129 to approve the bill which would extend the NSA surveillance of phone calls and e-mail messages going in and out of the United States, while giving the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) an opportunity to review Bush administration requests for wide-ranging surveillance powers. The bill, called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act, allows the NSA to receive blanket surveillance orders covering multiple suspects of terrorism and other crimes. The bill also sends the dozens of outstanding lawsuits against telecom carriers for their alleged participation in the NSA program to a district court, which will review whether they should be dismissed. The lawsuits would be thrown out if telecom companies can show that the U.S. government issued them orders for the surveillance that were presented as lawful. The U.S. Senate could take up the bill as early as next week. The telecom immunity provisions may face opposition there. Democrats, the majority party in Congress, were split on the bill, with 105 voting for it and 128 against it. Opponents of the bill argued the NSA program violates the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/06/20/House_approves_surveillance_bi...