For immediate release:
September 13, 2006
Contact:
David McGuire
(202) 637-9800 x106
WASHINGTON -- As Congress mounts its final push before the midterm elections, a number of bills that threaten the bedrock of Internet privacy and civil liberties could either come up for votes or worm their way into larger legislative packages that end up being rushed into law.
Today, the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) issued its "Internet Watch List," which contains nine legislative efforts that cannot be allowed to succeed in the so-called "silly season" at the end of the 109th Congress. The watch list is online at http://www.cdt.org/legislation/2006watchlist.php .
"We always see bad bills moving in the waning days of the session, but this year's crop is particularly troubling," CDT Executive Director Leslie Harris said. "Taken together, these measures threaten to undermine our First and Fourth Amendment rights; weaken our privacy; hobble technological innovation; and change the fundamental nature of the Internet for the worse. If even one of these misguided legislative gambits succeeds we will all be the worse for it."
At the top of the list are a pair of bills that would rewrite the law that protects ordinary Americans from government snooping. Put bluntly -- from a civil liberties perspective -- bills simply don't get much worse than those proposed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) to "modernize" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). What began ostensibly as an effort to bring the administration's warrantless surveillance program under judicial review has turned into an attempt to repeal the language that protects Americans from warrantless snooping.
"We've led the calls for Congress to assert its oversight authority over the National Security Agency's domestic spying program, but these bills aren't the answer, " CDT Policy Director Jim Dempsey said. "It would be better for Congress do nothing than to pass either of these measures. "
Also on the watch list are Congressional efforts to impose mandatory labeling requirements on Web site operators; a bill that would require schools and libraries to block interactive Internet content; an attempt to compel Internet providers to retain massive amounts of customer data for use by law enforcement; and several other bills and planned measures that threaten privacy and civil liberties.
In the coming weeks, CDT will urge lawmakers, journalists and the online public to keep close watch on these legislative efforts to ensure they don't come up for votes, or worse, find their way into one of the large, must-pass omnibus bills that come up at the end of the congressional session.
About CDT: The Center for Democracy and Technology works to promote democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age. With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT seeks practical solutions to enhance free expression and privacy in global communications technologies. CDT is dedicated to building consensus among all parties interested in the future of the Internet and other new communications media.