On Demand
Immunity for Phone Companies?
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Corey Boles, reporter for Down Jones Newswires and Emily Berman, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, talk about whether phone companies will receive immunity in wiretapping cases.
- About the Brian Lehrer Show »
- Staff Bios »
- Contact UsĀ »
- Tapes and Transcripts »
- Latest Episode »
- Show Archive »
Features & Series
Podcast
Stay up to date.
Subscribe to the Podcast
YOU PRODUCE The Brian Lehrer Show
Be a listener-producer with facts, questions and people you'd like to hear on the air.
More
The Brian Lehrer Show Scrapbook
Visit the scrapbook for daily photos and miscellany from The Brian Lehrer Show.
More
Shop at Amazon!
The Brian Lehrer Show picks
Start your Amazon shopping on WNYC.org and a portion of your total purchase goes to WNYC.
More

Comments
Refresh
will mrs clinton vote in favor of a law to allow corporations to listen to american citizens and report to big brother??
The juxtaposition of the proposed immunity here, vis-a-vis the public shaming of Yahoo! executives (because they allowed the Chinese government to look at internet records) earlier this week, is startling. How can we seriously condemn corporate complicity in civil liberties abuses abroad, when we encourage it at home?
Brian!
The government cannot have it "both ways." When the government launches a "sting" that gets a person or company to violate the law they cannot seek immunity or plead lack of knowledge of the law. Now the government, and the telecom companies, want immunity for the same practice.
Also, Congress, back in 2001, said a resounding "NO" to the 43rd Administration regarding the Total Information Awareness program that was floated. This intrusion into our civil liberties is just another end-run around a Congressional no.
Your Dow-Jones guy sounds like he's already been bought by Murdoch.
The chart I saw on telecom donations to Rockefeller was next to no contributions until retroactive immunity came up. I'll look for the link.
I only caught half of this story, unfortunately, so this point might not have come up via a caller, but I would like to make one point to anyone out there who hears this story and might be thinking: "So what if the government is reading my email and recording my phone calls. I've got nothing to hide?"
Really? By that reasoning, should we put a camera in everyone's home so the government can see what we're doing? C'mon, you said you had nothing to hide.
There should be more outrage over this. If the government needs to read email or tap a phone, all it has to do is get a warrant, which is not a problem as long as the gov't has a reason to suspect you. There's just no reason for invading people's privacy w/o a warrant.
And to cs: VERY good comment on the Yahoo! case. :)
Here's the link for telecom comtributions to Rockefeller. Any reporter who has not looked at this chart, yet opines on this subject, is stealing his salary.
http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/19/you-get-what-you-pay-for/
Leave a Comment
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Back to EpisodeEmail addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. WNYC reserves the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the WNYC.org Comment Guidelines before posting.