Cheney Wants Surveillance Law Expanded
by Tom Raum
January 23, 2008
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-borosage/keep-dancing-chuck_b_82790.html
tags: Warrantless Wiretapping, Wiretapping, Wiretapping Surveillance, Surveillance, Surveillance Law,
WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney prodded Congress on Wednesday to extend and broaden an expiring surveillance law, saying "fighting the war on terror is a long-term enterprise" that should not come with an expiration date.
"We're reminding Congress that they must act now," Cheney [urged, repeating the drumbeat he helped create to push America into the Iraq war.]
.....The original FISA law requires the government to get permission from a special court to listen in on the phone calls and e-mails of people in the United States. Changes in communications technology mean many purely foreign to foreign communications now pass through the United States and therefore require the government to get court orders to intercept them.
...The Protect America Act, adopted in August, eased that restriction. Privacy and civil liberties advocates say it went too far, giving the government far more power to eavesdrop on American communications without court oversight.
