Tech group raises concerns about surveillance bills

The U.S. Congress should proceed cautiously while considering bills to authorize a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program because of the potential impact on the technology industry, a tech trade group said Friday.

A day after legislation to authorize the controversial NSA program stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) sent a letter to the committee raising concerns about surveillance programs that “undermine” government checks and balances in the U.S. Constitution.

A massive surveillance program will hurt users’ confidence in the privacy of communications networks and will put burdensome requirements on tech and telecom vendors, said Ed Black, president and chief executive officer of CCIA. The trade group’s members include Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.

“This is a very delicate area, and we have to be careful of what we do,” Black said. “What the [Bush] administration has been pushing is a system without real limits, without real checks.”

U.S. President George Bush’s administration has used the NSA program to monitor electronic communications of U.S. residents, without seeking court-issued wiretap orders. Bush, in a speech on Thursday, defended the program and said it helps keep U.S. residents safe.

Although Bush administration officials continue to say the program is legal, Bush called on Congress to authorize the program as a way to head off multiple lawsuits challenging it. “The terrorists who want to harm America can now buy disposable cell phones, and open anonymous e-mail addresses,” Bush said during a speech in Atlanta, Georgia. “Our laws need to change to take these changes into account.”

In August, a federal judge in Michigan declared the NSA program illegal, and in July, a federal judge in California, denied motions by the U.S. government and AT&T Inc. to stop a lawsuit over the carrier’s alleged participation in the NSA program.

On Thursday, a federal judge in Oregon rejected a motion by the U.S. government to stop a lawsuit there alleging the NSA program is illegal. An Islamic organization brought the lawsuit against Bush and directors of the NSA and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Also on Thursday, two bills to authorize the NSA program stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee when Democrats offered a series of amendments. Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, complained that Democrats were obstructing the legislation. Specter may try to bring the legislation up for a vote in the Judiciary Committee later this month.

Black urged the committee to fully consider the economic effects of a large surveillance program. Telecom carriers and Internet service providers may have to store records of all communications for several months if the legislation is approved, he said.

“We’re running headlong into a major alteration of the way communications in this country are monitored without a thorough consideration of all the factors in play,” Black said.