[privacy] NSA Cooperation: OK for e-Mail, IM Companies?

[rms at computerbytesman.com]

Gee, why is this retroactive immunity needed for all of this Internet
companies?  Has the NSA been involved it yet more monkey business?

Richard


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> Via C|Net News.
>
> [snip]
>
> A new Senate bill would protect not only telephone companies from lawsuits
> claiming illegal cooperation with the National Security Agency. It would
> retroactively immunize e-mail providers, search engines, Internet service
> providers and instant-messaging services too.
>
> The broad language appears in new legislation that a Senate committee
> approved by a 13-to-2 vote on Thursday during a meeting closed to the
> press
> and public. It enjoys the support of the panel's Democrats and
> Republicans.
>
> It goes further in crafting an impenetrable legal shield than similar
> proposals in the House of Representatives, such as the so-called Restore
> Act, which immunizes only "communications service providers." Bowing to
> pressure from President Bush, House Democrats postponed a vote on the
> Restore Act last week.
>
> The broader Senate bill would sweep in Web sites, e-mail providers and
> more. "My suspicion is the scope of the immunity provision is the most
> revealing way to assess the scope of the underlying authority," said Marc
> Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
>
> [snip]
>
> More:
> http://www.news.com/NSA-cooperation-OK-for-e-mail%2C-IM-companies/2100-7348
> _3-6214609.html
>
> - - ferg
>
>
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> --
> "Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
>  Engineering Architecture for the Internet
>  fergdawg(at)netzero.net
>  ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/
>
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