Update 11/20/2007: The fight over the FISA bill continues, mainly over whether to grant phone companies immunity for having violated the privacy of millions of customers. The House passed a bill without immunity. In the Senate, two committees passed two separate versions of the bill -- the Intelligence committee with immunity, and the Judiciary committee without it. Meanwhile, Arlen Specter (R-PA) is offering a "compromise" that would make the government liable for any laws the phone companies broke, and several Democrats have said they will support this.

Call Senator Schumer (in DC: 202-224-6542; in NYC: 212-486-4430), thank him for voting against immunity, and let him know you oppose the Specter "compromise."

S.2248, the "FISA Amendments Act of 2007" (just call it "the FISA bill") currently contains a provision granting telephone companies retroactive immunity from lawsuits stemming from their participation in George W. Bush's secret, warrantless wiretapping. That means that if your phone company illegally gave data about your private phone calls to the Bush administration, you can't sue them. The bill is being "marked up" in the Senate Judiciary Committee starting today. This is the process of deciding what the final language of the bill will be. There are three possibilities: They could keep the immunity provision, they could remove it, or they could go with an amendment by Arlen Specter (R-PA) to shift responsibility to the federal government.

Our senior Senator, Chuck Schumer, is on the Judiciary Committee. Call his office (in DC, 202-224-6542, or in NYC 212-486-4430) to say that you oppose immunity for the phone companies, and you oppose the "Specter amendment" that would also protect the phone companies.

You might also want to consider joining online activists in petitioning Senate Majority Leader Harry Read NOT to override Senator Chris Dodd's use of traditional Senate rules to place a "hold" on any bill that includes telecom immunity: www.NoRetroactiveImmunity.com