Senator Christopher Dodd (D.-Conn.), who's also a presidential candidate, announced he'll look to block domestic surveillance legislation that would grant telcos immunity for past involvement in warrantless spying and wiretapping carried out by the federal government. Much is being made that the bill doesn't exist yet, but given a Senate committee and the White House already agreed on terms for a new bill, it likely will make its way toward a Congressional vote by late next month.
We noted last week in this space some of the issues in which presidential candidates should let us know where they stand. Telco immunity related to the surveillance scandal was among them, and Dodd is the first to answer the call. Though, given the heavyweight Dem candidates leading the polls, he needed to get notice somehow, and this move seems to be paying off in press mentions. We doubt any of the leading candidates on either side of the presidential campaign aisle is going to say much more, so we'll put the question to you:
Would you grant telcos immunity for past participation in domestic spying? Give us your view at our poll. E-mail me with your reasons and I promise to publish the results in an upcoming column, and at FierceTelecom.com. - Dan