Telecoimmunization

It's still in demand:

Finally, it is critical for the intelligence community to have liability protection for private parties that are sued only because they are believed to have assisted us after Sept. 11, 2001. Although the Protect America Act provided such necessary protection for those complying with requests made after its enactment, it did not include protection for those that reportedly complied earlier.

Several Democratic politicians have done an admirable job spelling out just how rotten this all is. But I'd like them to take it one step further than they have--to point out loudly how bad the incentives this creates really are. If telecoms get immunity now, then private interests write large will see two options before them every time the government approaches them to break the law and lie about it: Comply with the request, secure in the knowledge that the government will make the consequences disappear, or deny it and spoil their relationship with the government, possibly for years.

Civil liberties infractions are bad enough. But it could be worse.