Dodd's Going After Telecom Immunity

Some of you may remember the battle against the FISA bill last year, which basically gave the government broad new spying powers and immunized the telecom companies against their lawbreaking.

Sen. Chris Dodd and some friends have decided that last bit may need revisiting (h/t):

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will introduce the Retroactive Immunity Repeal Act, opening up some of the country's largest firms to legal liabilities. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have signed on as co-sponsors.

“I believe we best defend America when we also defend its founding principles,” Dodd said in a statement. “We make our nation safer when we eliminate the false choice between liberty and security. But by granting retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies who may have participated in warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, the Congress violated the protection of our citizens' privacy and due-process rights, and we must not allow that to stand.”

Good on them.  I don't have a lot of hope they'll get anywhere with this, but I'm damned glad they're trying.  That travesty never should've been passed to begin with.