All The Telcos Want For Christmas?

The flailing around in Congress over giving big telecom companies, including AT&T and Verizon, retroactive immunity for playing along with the NSA's wiretapping program is over for now, and the news isn't good for the telcos. In August, Congress extended temporary immunity, fending off dozens of pending lawsuits until Feb. 1. Groups including the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation are suing over the Bush administration's, shall we say, broadening of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to authorize the NSA to ask telcos to turn over records of Americans' phone calls and e-mails without warrants. If you're unfamiliar with this ongoing saga, USA Today offers good background.

Now the temporary reprieve has come to an end, though it required threat of a filibuster. Telcos have been eerily quiet on the matter, but I'll bet a few execs won't be seeing sugarplums dance in their heads over the holiday break. Maybe wee ACLU lawyers instead?