The 2008 amendment to the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 gave telecoms retroactive immunity from lawsuits related to assisting the government in its domestic wiretapping program. Since it was signed into law, there has been significant controversy over the constitutionality of the act which is said to deprive citizens of due process in cases where privacy has been violated. The EFF, long in agreement with this stance, recently filed a brief in the US District Court of San Francisco that hopes to challenge the legality of the FAA.
The EFF alleges that the FISA Amendment Act of 2008 is illegal because it permits the executive branch to reject lawsuits filed against telecoms for participating in the wiretapping program. It contends that this is a responsibility that should fall on the judicial branch, thereby respecting the constitutional notion of checks and balances.
Set to be heard on December 2, the Hepting vs. AT&T case is one of many the ACLU and EFF now oversee as coordinating stewards of the 47 outstanding wiretapping-related cases. If they should successfully prove their case, this will be a tremendous victory for both the rights and privacy of American people.
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