The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) has urged the U.S. Congress to make changes to a bill that would extend a controversial wiretapping program.The CDT, a group that focuses on online civil liberties, called for the U.S. Senate to pass a substitute to the FISA Amendments Act, which is likely to be debated on the Senate floor later this week.The legislation, as approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee, would reauthorize warrantless wiretapping of some U.S. residents’ telephone and electronic communications in the name of protecting the U.S. against terrorists. One of the most controversial provisions would give telecommunications carriers immunity from civil lawsuit judgments for assisting the government wiretapping efforts, but CDT officials said Tuesday that there are other important questions raised by the legislation, including the role the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (also known as the FISA court, because it was established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) plays in overseeing the wiretapping program.
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us: Civil liberties group wants wiretapping legislation changed
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) has urged the U.S. Congress to make changes to a bill that would extend a controversial wiretapping program. The CDT, a group that focuses on online civil liberties, called for the U.S. Senate to pass a substitute to the FISA Amendments Act, which is likely to be debated on the Senate floor later this week.