Wiretape

The number of interested parties eager to listen in on your online conversations, including what you type through instant messaging, has never been higher.

It's trivial to monitor unencrypted wireless networks and snatch IM passwords as they flow through the ether. Broadband providers and their business partners are enthusiastically peeking into their customers' conversations. A bipartisan majority in Congress has handed the FBI and shadowy government agencies greater surveillance authority than ever before.

The need, in other words, for secure IM communication has never been greater. But not all IM networks offer the same privacy and security. To chart … Read more

A series of statements about immunizing telecommunications companies that violated federal wiretapping laws have become something of an embarrassment, and perhaps even a problem, for John McCain's presidential campaign.

The statements revolve around whether McCain, like President Bush, supports legislation that could be voted on this month extending retroactive immunity to those companies and perhaps many more. The problem for the onetime captain of the Straight Talk Express is that his varying statements at different times are starting to seem -- dare we say it? -- almost Clintonian.

When news about the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program … Read more

The U.S. Congress may soon vote on a new "compromise" spy law that would still likely derail pending suits against AT&T and other companies accused of opening their networks to the government in violation of wiretap law.

Democratic leaders, facing intense election year pressure from Republicans and more conservative "Blue Dog" members of their own party, had said they hoped to reach an agreement on a contentious rewrite of a 1978 electronic-surveillance law known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, before their Memorial Day recess.

That self-imposed deadline passed without action. … Read more

Republican politicians in the U.S. House of Representatives failed last month to persuade Democratic leaders to back a spy law rewrite that would immunize telecommunications companies that cooperated with allegedly illegal government spying. Now they're trying to force the issue.

On Wednesday, a number of Republican leaders, including Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and Peter King (R-N.Y.), began circulating what's known as a "discharge" petition, which they characterized as a "rare step." If they obtain 218 signatures from their colleagues, they say the Democratic leadership will be forced to schedule a … Read more

When police ask a judge to grant a wiretap order, there's no defense lawyer present to raise objections. The judge has a limited amount of information, all provided by the cops and prosecutors, who in theory will take this solemn responsibility seriously and never lie or twist the facts.

Which brings us to U.S. v. Romero, a relatively routine case in Massachusetts in which Alberto Romero and 17 others were charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute crack cocaine.

To get a wiretap against the alleged crack cocaine ring, Drug Enforcement Administration agent Joao Monteiro filed an affidavit … Read more

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday narrowly approved an electronic surveillance expansion without immunization for any telecommunications companies that illegally opened their networks to intelligence agencies.

The 213-197 split, with most Democrats voting in favor of the bill (PDF) and most Republicans opposing it, hardly means that the political tussle over retroactive immunity is over. It now shifts to the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said he was "encouraged" to see the House vote.

But the primary obstacle remains President Bush, who has threatened a veto. The White House circulated a statement after … Read more

After convening its first "secret" session in 25 years, the U.S. House of Representatives is preparing anew to vote Friday on a contentious rewrite of electronic surveillance law.

Democratic leaders had originally thought they might get to a vote on the bill late Thursday, but a last-minute request from Republican leaders for a closed session of the House delayed those plans. Congress is scheduled to go into a two-week recess after its Friday vote.

In a closed session--only six of which have been held since 1825--only those politicians who swear to an oath of secrecy are allowed … Read more

Before Congress departs for its spring recess at week's end, the U.S. House of Representatives is trying to squeeze in a vote on what's shaping up as one of the most contentious bills this year.

That proposal, of course, is a Democratic bill that would make a number of changes to electronic surveillance law--but, much to the Bush administration's chagrin, would not grant retroactive immunity to telephone companies embroiled in some 40 lawsuits accusing them of unlawfully opening their networks to National Security Agency spies. In that regard, it's starkly different from the U.S. Senate version of the bill, … Read more

Classified documents and testimony about the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program show that it's not necessary to grant retroactive immunity to telephone companies accused of unlawfully opening their networks to government spies, key congressional Democrats said on Wednesday.

In a five-page statement (PDF), U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and 18 Democrats on that panel contended the Bush administration has "not established a valid and credible case justifying the extraordinary action of Congress enacting blanket retroactive immunity."

Skepticism about the Bush administration's once-secret eavesdropping program is nothing new for the … Read more