Having breached FISA the Decider now wants to change the law to suit the spooks - I heard it on the Radio

The Voice of America reminds us that President Bush talks to the nation every week, this week the Decider told (VOA says he "appealed to") Congress to modernize gut the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The Decider is in a rush and wants Congress to make the changes before it breaks for summer recess next month

To fix this problem, my Administration has proposed a bill that would update the FISA statute trash the Fourth . This legislation is the product of months of discussion with members of both parties in the House and the Senate—and it includes four key reforms:

1. It brings FISA up to date with the changes in communications technology that have taken place over the past three decades.

2. It seeks to restore FISA to its original focus on protecting the privacy interests of people inside the United States, so we don’t have to obtain court orders to effectively collect foreign intelligence about foreign targets located in foreign locations.

3. It allows the government to work more efficiently with private-sector entities like communications providers, whose help is essential.

4. It will streamline administrative processes so our intelligence community can gather foreign intelligence more quickly and more effectively, while protecting civil liberties.

Remarkably the Decider has been secretly discussing this with members of both parties in the House and the Senate for "months". It includes proposals that would allow U.S. telecommunications companies to cooperate more fully to do any fucking thing the spooks want to do to gather information.

Well, with the disclosures in the NYT and subsequent Court actions show that AT&T allow the Gubment spooks free access to all their voice and data traffic without all that fiddly paperwork and the need to interrupt Judges on the golf course, it is a bit difficult to see how those folks could co-operate more fully. Note also how AT&T have amended their Privacy policy recently - and personal data they have about you - well it belongs to AT&T ...and evidently, therefore the Gubment.

It is AT & T Company Privacy Policy that the company, not customers, owns customers' private data. "While your account information may be personal to you, these records constitute business records that are owned by AT&T," the policy states. "As such, AT&T "may disclose such records to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."

The company also asserts that it has "an obligation to assist law enforcement and other government agencies responsible for protecting the public welfare, whether it be an individual or the security interests of the entire nation." This new policy, adopted in June 2006, dropped a reference stating that the company "does not access, read, upload or store data contained in or derived from private files without the member's authorization."

Remember when you sign up your mandatory 3 year AT&T carrier deal for your iPhone ... there is every likelihood that there is a back door in there for the Gubment to listen.

Go to Kurt Nimmo for more. Also Chicago Sun

US of A ..The Land of the Free