There's an ominous additional layer to the maneuvering: a grant of retroactive immunity will eliminate telecom customers' standing to sue for the invasion of privacy. No standing means no discovery, and no information for 30 years. Those lawsuits might otherwise reveal data as to the breadth of surveillance which would shock not only people, but the constitution. It might even document impeachable offenses. This isn't an issue of companies holding the government hostage or vice versa: this is a situation of the government scratching the telecom's backs in order to scratch its own back.

Posted at February 25, 2008 9:56 PM in response to It's The Immunity, Stupid