Top Democrat kills telco immunity ... for now

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada temporarily came to his senses and pulled a bill that would have given telcos immunity for their part in the apparently illegal wiretapping and webtapping done by the National Security Agency (NSA). Here's the bad news: He plans to reintroduce it early next year.

The bill is an astonishingly bad one. It would give frightnening new power to the federal government, and allow agencies to spy on Americans without first getting a court warrant. It would also "eviscerate the authority of the court that oversees electronic espionage," in the words of a New York Times editorial. And, the editorial adds, it "would also give amnesty to telecommunications companies that -- for five years -- provided Americans’ private data to the government without a warrant."

Those who thought that the Democrats would be more friendly to privacy rights than Republicans can't be very happy right now. True, for the moment the bill is dead. But that's only for the moment. It in fact has the support of most Democrats as well as Republicans. A handful of Democrats, including Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, have put up a fight and forced Reid to pull the bill.

When January rolls around, though, expect the usual fearmongering from the sponsors of this bill, trying to frighten Congress into voting for it. The bill, though, should die. As the New York Times editorial says, "The Constitution has been battered enough..." in recent years by Congress. Maybe for their holiday break, Congressmen should be forced to do a little bit of reading -- the Constitution, and particularly the Bill of Rights.