Just being complete so we at CHB are clear what the Bush Administration did to us and is continuing to do:
The statutory causes of action Congress created to hold telecoms accountable for illegal surveillance play a crucial role in providing a judicial forum for warrantless surveillance.
They are:
1. FISA: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act makes it illegal to intentionally engage in electronic surveillance under color of law or to disclose the fruits of such surveillance, knowing that it was not authorized by statute
2. WIRETAP ACT: Also called TITLE III, the Wiretap Act prohibits any person from illegally intercepting, disclosing, using and/or divulging phone calls or electronic communications
3. COMMUNICATIONS ACT: The Communications Act prohibits communications carriers from unauthorized divulgence and/or publication of customer communications.
4. STORED COMMUNICATIONS ACT: Finally, any carrier that gave NSA “call detail records violated the Stored Communications Act, which makes it unlawful for carriers to divulge the contents of customers’ stored communications and to divulge records about customer communications to a governmental entity without valid legal process.
These are, of course in addition to the most important privacy protections of all:
5. 4th and 1st AMENDMENTS to the CONSTITUTION The First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution prohibit unauthorized government surveillance of our private communications. The Fourth Amendment was explicitly written in order to prevent wholesale, untargeted searches and seizures of Americans’ private papers and communications.
These statues are violated every time the Bush Administration reauthorizes its self to do this….EVERY MONTH!
So, get out your calculators because the penalties for either act are fines up to $10,000 and up to five years in jail for every violation!
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