Bush Asks for Immunity for US Telcoms

Sometimes I am shocked at the US Government and its people (I am a US Citizen). On the one hand people scream that Bush is evil and doing improper things with the Patriot Act etc., and on the other they let RIAA do whatever they want including invade privacy, ignore state and federal laws and judicial procedures.

People are suing a few US Telcom companies over what they say was an illegal transfer of customer data and information back in September 2001 right after the 9-11 attacks (claiming they violated Federal Wire Tapping Laws). But President Bush is fighting back asking the Courts to grant retroactive immunity to these telecoms.

Read more at TGDaily

The Bush administration claimed in their court filing that the immunity legislation "represents the considered judgment of our nation's political branches that, in the unique historical circumstances following the 9/11 attacks, telecommunications companies should not bear the burden of defending against claims that those companies assisted the government in its efforts to detect and prevent further terrorist attacks."

The government also said that Congress "concluded that those companies should not face further litigation if they provided such assistance pursuant to a court order or a written certification, directive or request from a senior government official, or did not provide the alleged assistance."