Today, June 20, 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act, a terrible new law that will allow the President of the United States to conduct dragnet electronic searches of Americans' private emails, listen to our telephone calls, and track the movements of Americans with cell phones and GPS devices.
The law also permits the secret physical search of an American home or business without a search warrant or judicial approval. Copies of H.R. 6304 have been posted online by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and by Irregular Times.
They have found the following language in the bill:
(5)... In the event that such application for approval is denied, or in any other case where the physical search is terminated and no order is issued approving the physical search, no information obtained or evidence derived from such physical search shall be received in evidence or otherwise disclosed in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury, department, office, agency, regulatory body, legislative committee, or other authority of the United States, a State, or political subdivision thereof, and no information concerning any United States person acquired from such physical search shall subsequently be used or disclosed in any other manner by Federal officers or employees without the consent of such person, except with the approval of the Attorney General if the information indicates a threat of death or serious bodily harm to any person. (6)The Attorney General shall assess compliance with the requirements of paragraph (5).
We added the emphasis in bold typeface, because it's the emphasized words that undermine completely what at first appears to be protection from arbitrary physical search.
This clause of H.R. 6304 will make permanent the Protect America Act of 2007 - and expand that law's powers, giving retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications corporations that broke the law by helping George W. Bush spy on their customers - even though none of those customers were criminal suspects.
Call your U.S. Representative first thing NOW. Tell your Representative to stand up for the bill of rights and vote NO on H.R. 6304. Call (202) 224-3121, and tell them your zip code. TheyÍll connect you to your member of the House.