Sen. Rockefeller Sums Up FISA Extension

My aversion to this bill goes beyond retroactive immunity for the telecoms. Above all, the new FISA powers are an affront to privacy and civil liberties. In a floor address to the Senate yesterday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)–a stalwart supporter of FISA extensions plus the immunity amendment–inadvertently made that point clear:

Unlike traditional [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] application orders which involve collection on one individual target, the new FISA provisions create a system of collection. The courts role in this system of collection is not to consider probable cause on individual targets but to ensure that procedures used to collect intelligence are adequate. The courts’ determination of the adequacy of procedures therefore impacts all electronic communications gathered under the new mechanisms, even if it involves thousands of targets.

Rockefeller describes the legalization of data mining operations such as the one recounted by former AT&T technician Mark Klein. Threat level looks at the larger implications:

Rockefeller makes clear that the impending changes to the law aren’t about making it easier for the National Security Agency to listen in on a particular terrorism suspect’s phone calls. Instead, the changes are about letting the nation’s spooks secretly and unilaterally install filters inside America’s phone and internet infrastructure.