The Wall Street Journal-20080124-Protect Americans- Rights
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Protect Americans' Rights
You are right that the so-called "Protect America Act" (PAA) should not be extended, but you are wrong about the reasons ("Wiretap Politics," Review & Outlook, Jan. 11). The PAA is not, as you imply, inadequate to protect Americans' safety. It is, however, woefully deficient when it comes to protecting their privacy rights.
This ill-conceived law was not about updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to keep pace with changing technology. That could have been done in a simple, yet constitutional manner. In fact, FISA has been updated more than 50 times since its passage in 1978.
Rather, the PAA was an attempt to gut FISA entirely. It strips Americans of important privacy protections and expands the government's power to eavesdrop on its own citizens. Under the law, the government can intercept phone calls and emails of Americans and arguably even search their homes without a warrant as long as the search "concerns" someone believed to be abroad.
As you point out, the PAA does not provide legal immunity to telecommunication companies that have assisted the president's illegal spying program. This is a good thing, and whatever law replaces it should follow suit. These companies do not need liability protection. They need a government that does not ask them to help it break the law while selling out their customers' privacy. The lawsuits pending against these companies are a legitimate and necessary way to hold them accountable for their conduct.
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
American Civil Liberties Union
New York
