Privacy Rights Watchdogs Sue Over FISA Law

The recently passed FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Amendments Act allows the US Government, and the NSA in particular, to eavesdrop on international telephone conversations and e-mail messages. According to privacy and human rights watchdogs such as ACLU (American Civil Rights Liberties Union), Amnesty International, Global Rights, and many more, this comes in violation of the 1st and 4th Amendments.

Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of ACLU issued this statement: "Spying on Americans without warrants or judicial approval is an abuse of government power - and that's exactly what this law allows. The ACLU will not sit by and let this evisceration of the Fourth Amendment go unchallenged. Electronic surveillance must be conducted in a constitutional manner that affords the greatest possible protection for individual privacy and free speech rights. The new wiretapping law fails to provide fundamental safeguards that the Constitution unambiguously requires."

Last week, the US Senate and George W. Bush voted in favor of the law, which allows law enforcement agencies to intercept any international e-mail and phone conversations without having to get a court order first.

Journalist Naomi Klein says that since the current law has been put into effect, she is no longer able to protect her confidential sources. "As a journalist, my job requires communication with people in all parts of the world - from Iraq to Argentina. If the U.S. government is given unchecked surveillance power to monitor reporters' confidential sources, my ability to do this work will be seriously compromised," says Naomi.

In 2001 the Bush administration gave the green light to the Terrorist Surveillance Program, which was secretly used until 2005. Thanks to this program the NSA could intercept the communications of any individual suspected of being related to terrorism, but it first had to get a court of law to issue a warrant. The new FISA Amendments Act takes the court out of the equation and gives the NSA and other similar agencies a free hand.