"You've turned the court into a spectator," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC.org).

Even more far-reaching is the use of the term "electronic surveillance" which means something different in 2007 than it did in 1978. By redefining the meaning of "electronic surveillance," the new law narrows the types of communications that require warrants - and, thereby, indirectly gives the government the power to use intelligence collection methods far beyond wiretapping that previously required court approval. In other words, FISA regulations no longer apply to the vast electronic spying apparatus.

These brand new powers include the collection of business records, physical searches and so-called "trap and trace" operations, analyzing specific telephone calling patterns. Some have appropriately referred to this as "mining" or "rummaging" through American's lives on a hunt for some indication of possible wrongdoing.

The new legislation significantly relaxes the restrictions on how the government can conduct spying operations aimed at foreigners at the same time that it allows authorities to sweep up information about Americans.

Alberto Gonzales, the mastermind and prime supporter of warrantless surveillance, is leaving his post as attorney general. However, his departure will not change or end the warrantless wiretapping.

The bill (s 1927) that the House sent President Bush expands the president's authority to spy without court-approved warrants.

The bill empowers the U.S. attorney general, any U.S. attorney general, and the director of national intelligence to unilaterally order the surveillance, relegating judges on the FISA court to an after-the-fact review role. The bill permits surveillance without warrants on telephone calls and e-mails even when it's routed though U.S. private equipment.

(graphic courtesy of the Washington Post)

Background: In December 2005, the New York Times exposed the most significant violation of federal surveillance law in the post-Watergate era. President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to engage in domestic spying, wiretapping thousands of Americans and bypassing the legal procedures regulating this activity. This isn't about the spying, although that's a major issue in itself. This is about the Fourth Amendment protections against illegal search. Between 2005 and 2007, Congress did nothing. Then, in early 2007, a FISA court reprimanded George Bush for his activities and began closer scrutiny. And, oddly, in August 2007, Bush pushed through broader powers in the form of FISA amendments in order to "legalize" his prior illegal warrantless wiretapping.

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