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Judge Dismisses NSA Wiretap Civil Liberties Suits |
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Source: CSO Online - Posted by Anthony Pell
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What kind of far-reaching implications does this have? Can organization's, working with the government, really be allowed to monitor communications unencumbered? Can they watch for some sort of illegal activity, terrorist or not, and then arrest someone, without having previously had a warrant?A federal judge on Wednesday threw out 46 civil lawsuits filed against telecommunications companies for allowing the National Security Agency to probe their networks for terrorist communications without approval from a court.
Companies such as AT&T were granted immunity under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act (FISAAA), signed into law in July 2008, ruled U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker in a 46-page opinion.
The law gave companies immunity from lawsuits if the U.S. government provided proof to a court that the surveillance was authorized by the president, was legal or did not occur. It applied to surveillance that happened between Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 17, 2007.
However, Walker wrote that plaintiffs can amend their complaints within 30 days to address what they believe are wrongful actions on the part of the companies outside of the timespan covered by FISAAA.
Read this full article at CSO Online
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