McCain: Stop! I'm for Amnesty for Lawbreaking Telecoms
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How telecoms are attempting to buy amnesty from Congress
By Ryan Singel May 23, 2008 | 4:40:42 PMCategories: Election '08, NSA, Politics
It's official, John McCain still supports amnesty for telephone and internet companies that helped the Bush Administration target Americans for wiretapping for five years, without getting any court orders.
The confusion resulted from a tech policy discussion in New Haven, Connecticut Wednesday where a surrogate for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain said that as president, McCain would require strict conditions for amnesty. If by 2009, Congress hasn't broken the current deadlock over whether to free the telecoms from the civil suits against them, McCain would want hearings, clear future rules and apologies from the telecoms before supporting amnesty,his surrogate said, making a big change in position from McCain's earlier votes in support of the provision.
Chuck Fish, a full-time volunteer campaign lawyer, gave the hypothetical answer in a panel at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference. His comments were remarkable, since in February, McCain voted against an amendment that would have stripped from a spying bill amnesty for telecoms that helped with the government's five-year warrantless wiretapping in volation of federal privacy laws.
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How telecoms are attempting to buy amnesty from Congress
By Ryan Singel May 23, 2008 | 4:40:42 PMCategories: Election '08, NSA, Politics
It's official, John McCain still supports amnesty for telephone and internet companies that helped the Bush Administration target Americans for wiretapping for five years, without getting any court orders.
The confusion resulted from a tech policy discussion in New Haven, Connecticut Wednesday where a surrogate for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain said that as president, McCain would require strict conditions for amnesty. If by 2009, Congress hasn't broken the current deadlock over whether to free the telecoms from the civil suits against them, McCain would want hearings, clear future rules and apologies from the telecoms before supporting amnesty,his surrogate said, making a big change in position from McCain's earlier votes in support of the provision.
Chuck Fish, a full-time volunteer campaign lawyer, gave the hypothetical answer in a panel at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference. His comments were remarkable, since in February, McCain voted against an amendment that would have stripped from a spying bill amnesty for telecoms that helped with the government's five-year warrantless wiretapping in volation of federal privacy laws.
--MORE--