By: John Sinteur

John Sinteur — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:03:11 +0000

So the telco’s aren’t allowed to fail, just like the banks aren’t allowed to fail because of the subprime crisis, right? The big risk in that is that the fall will be a lot bigger if/when it finally comes. You can’t just wish away these kind of problems. It’s a bit like a soldier and an illegal order - you don’t want the soldier to say “No!” to every order, but you want him to be secure enough to say “No!” to prevent a second Holocaust. What you’re doing right now with the telco is allowing them to get away with it, opening the way to allow them to follow illegal orders next time as well. Are you really sure that next time isn’t going to be much worse?

By: Capa

Capa — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:55:46 +0000

I agree with you in principle but I think you have to consider a couple things regarding retroactive immunity for telecom companies who capitulated to administration requests for warrant-less wiretaps, and Internet and telephone usage. One, said companies may have been just as afraid of what they Bush administration might do to them in their egomaniacal thuggish glory days as some individuals may have been, not without valid reasons in both groups. And, two, the number of potential parties to a class in civil litigation, and the potential size of the awards, could bring the the telecom industry in the States tumbling down. The commercial airlines are pretty much doing that to themselves, slowly, on their own and it’s causing enough problems. We really don’t want most of our telecom industry to go under, disrupting nationwide communications and creating a viable, autocratic, long-lived monopoly out of the survivors. A painful fine for divulging the information or supporting the wiretaps without warrant as the law requires, that I would find reasonable and serve all interests the best.

Comments on: Dems, GOP agree to telecom immunity deal

By: John Sinteur

By: Capa