In Twist, Senate Judiciary Spying Bill Lacks Immunity for Telecoms: Civil liberties groups got a stunningly unexpected win Thursday as the Senate Judiciary'panel passed their version of the new government spying bill out of committee without including'a provision giving immunity to telecoms being sued for helping the government secretly spy on Americans.

The biggest winner from the development is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, whose suit against AT&T in federal court would'almost'certainly'have been wiped out by the immunity provision.

The provision - which'was part of the version passed by the Senate Intelligence committee in mid-October - was widely expected to make it into the bill, due to the administration's full court press on the'issue, the telcos'small army of lobbyists and the'vocal support of California Democrat Dianne Feintstein.''Feinstein's vote was expected to reverse the Dems 10-9 advantage in the committee.

But after a long day of complicated finagling over technical amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act'and proposed alternatives'to total immunity for companies such as AT&T and Verizon, committeee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) decided to send the bill out of committee without an agreement on immunity.

UPDATE: Caroline Fredrickson, who heads the ACLU's D.C. legislative shop said via email 'We appreciate the work of Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) to protect the civil liberties of all Americans. We still have reservations with both the House and Senate bills, and will continue to work to improve the legislation. It is heartening to know that people who feel their privacy was violated by the phone companies and by their own government are one step closer to having their day in court.'

See Also:

• Senate and House Moving on Spying Bills
• Analysis: Renewed Wiretapping Probe Hints at Backroom Deal on ...
• Senate Panel Approves Immunity for Spying Telcos
• AT&T Whistle-Blower Hits DC To Stop Telecom Spying Immunity
• Senator Dodd Announces He Will Stop Telecom Immunity Bill - Updated
• Ashcroft Argues to Absolve Telcos, THREAT LEVEL Calls for ...
• White House Spy Docs Show Surveillance Was Illegal, Senator ...
• Analysis: New Law Gives Government Six Months to Turn Internet and Phone Systems into Permanent Spying Architecture
• Before 9/11, NSA Asked Qwest for Network Access, Not Phone Records ...

(Read Original Article - Via Threat Level.)