Congress To Pass 2 Spy On Citizens Bills Today

There’s 2 interesting bills expected to pass in congress today.

The first one gives immunity to telcos who went and placed unauthorized wiretaps on people’s phones. It also gives immunity to the president for ordering a wiretap with no warrant. Don’t confuse this with ordering the tap THEN getting the warrant. This bill allows the telcos and Bush to place a tap without ever seeking a warrant – and grants them immunity if they do so.

The second one is a provision in a housing bill. Firstly, it requires a fingerprint database of all mortgage brokers (why?) Secondly, it requires that all electronic payment processors send detailed transaction data to the government. This means every paypal payment or credit card purchase you make will be recorded and sent to the government. They will have a database of everything you bought, when, and how much you paid for it. I don’t see any potential for wrongdoing here though, do you?

There’s a chance that Bush might veto this bill though, and let’s hope he does. If so, it might be the first good thing that his administration has done. (ok, second. I forgot about that check he sent me!)

June 20th, 2008