Fergie's Tech Blog

Senate Votes to Kill Anti-Immunity, More Limited Spying Bill

Ryan Singel writes on Threat Level:

The Senate rejected Thursday a proposal to expand the government's wiretapping powers without giving retroactive legal immunity to telecoms that helped the government spy on Americans without warrants, preferring instead a bill with less oversight and explicit immunity for companies like AT&T. The Republican opposition, joined by some Democrats, garnered 60 votes to the Democrats 34.

The Senate Judiciary's version of the bill was offered as an amendment to the Bush-supported Senate Intelligence Committee bill. Civil libertarians supported the Judiciary bill as the least evil of the two. However, the Intelligence version - which grants wide warrantless wiretapping power to the government -- was given the nod as the primary bill by Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada).

The defeat sets the stage for a promised filibuster from Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut), who already derailed this legislative process once.

posted by Fergie @ 1/24/2008 02:09:00 PM