Telecom companies: We'll fight new wiretap law

Those who fear the government's new powers to wiretap and snoop on their email may have a strange new ally on their side: the telecom industry.

According to the New York Times, the telecom industry is not happy with the new law President Bush just signed, giving the feds unprecedented power to wiretap and snoop when someone from the U.S. communicates with someone internationally. Previously, court approval was required. Now, the attorney general and the director of national intelligence can order it without going to a court.

That worries the telecom industry. In fact, the Times reports, "some telecommunications company officials had told Congressional leaders that they were unhappy with that provision in the bill and might challenge the new law in court."

What's going on here? Has the telecom industry suddenly discovered the concept of privacy? After all, these are the people who only too happily turned over millions of records of phone calls and emails to the feds without a court order.

It's only their own skins they care about, though, not your privacy. After the telecos gave the records to the feds, they were swamped with lawsuits. They don't want to face any new ones. And they think that they'd get more protection if a court tells them to turn over records, rather when the attorney general or director of national intelligence does.

Could we end up seeing a coalition of the telecom industry and privacy rights group challenging this law? It's certainly possible. Odd bedfellows, indeed.