Accountability: Senators’ Patriot Act ‘fix’ would eliminate telecom immunity

"A group of US Senators unveiled legislation Thursday aiming to strip telecommunications firms that took part in a hugely controversial Bush-era spying program of immunity from lawsuits.

"The bill aims to 'fix problems with surveillance laws that threaten the rights and liberties of American citizens' without crippling the government’s ability to track suspected terrorists, the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

"The legislation would affect the way the US government can search Americans’ personal records, conduct wiretapping, and otherwise collect and use information on US citizens....

"Democratic Senator Russell Feingold, long a critic of government spy powers on Americans, was a chief author of the legislation presented Thursday.

"The others included the number two Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin, as well as Democratic Senators Jon Tester, Tom Udall, Jeff Bingaman, Daniel Akaka, Ron Wyden, and Robert Menendez, as well as Independent Senator Bernie Sanders."

Go. Read. Senators’ Patriot Act ‘fix’ would eliminate telecom immunity by Raw Story (2009-09-17)

Update -- Reality intrudes: "The Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly passed a bill Thursday to extend several controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act, the counterterrorism law hastily drafted in the aftermath of 9/11...The bill - the USA Patriot Act Sunset Extension Act - was co-sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and committee member Dianne Feinstein, who also chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, and passed was passed by a vote of 11 to 8." - Senate Panel Extends Controversial Patriot Act Provisions by Jason Leopold (truthout 2009-10-09)