After late-night debate at the end of a long day, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) withdrew a new surveillance bill that would have included the controversial retroactive telco immunity provision. It was indeed the end of a long, strange day that started out with a promising vote among Senators that showed support for telco immunity.
With the current surveillance act set to terminate in February, Senators may now face the prospect of waiting until they reconvene post-holidays and try to reach an increasingly elusive agreement. Interestingly, some legislators against telco immunity don't want to punish the phone companies, according to The Washington Post, but can't find a way to punish the government in their place.
For more:
- read this story in The Washington Post
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- The telco immunity issue was one of our Top 5 stories of 2007