Lawyers wary of expanded wiretapping powers

[The Straight Story]

Lawyers wary of expanded wiretapping powers
By Andrew Noyes National Journal's Technology Daily August 13, 2007

The expansion of the government's ability to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens' telephone calls and e-mails was a prominent discussion topic at the American Bar Association's annual meeting, which attracted about 9,000 attorneys to San Francisco over the weekend.

ABA President Karen Mathis kicked off the conference on Friday by calling on Congress to roll back a week-old law expanding that power. Lawmakers should "move at once" upon reconvening after Labor Day, she said.

The mandate, which expires in six months unless Congress extends it, lets the director of national intelligence and the attorney general authorize the spying without first getting warrants from a secret court created by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

"With today's technology and government having almost limitless power to secretly probe the most private communications of Americans, the ABA is concerned that this power is too great to be held in the hands of any one authority," Mathis said. History has shown that when government agents bypass judges, abuses occur, she said.

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