TechLaw

The connection between money and Congress' willingness to grant telecom companies immunity from a slew of civil claims challenging their complicity in the government's post-9/11 warrantless eavesdropping activities is explored in a report published yesterday by the Center for Responsive Politics.

CRP, a non-profit, non-partisan research group that tracks the relationship between money and politics, pointed out that 68 senators who voted in favor of telecom company immunity collected an average of $21,200 from the telecoms during 2005-2007, while 29 who voted against immunity received an average of $13,000 in campaign contributions. Over in the House, the leading opponent of telecom immunity, John Conyers (D-Mich.), received just $4,000 during the current election cycle.

Many years ago, when I first started writing about technology policymaking, it was explained to me by an elections law expert that campaign contributions nearly always dictate the outcome of federal legislation on issues where the public is not engaged. Intellectual property, telecommunications and (to a lesser extent) privacy, policymaking are leading examples in the cyberlaw area. Legislative solutions always advance the needs of large campaign contributors. What can we do to stop piracy? How can be make sure that our communications infrastructure providers are adequately incentivized to provide this valuable service? Why should we withhold from businesses useful information about their customers and prospective customers?

On the other hand, no amount of money is going to effectively sway federal legislators on topics like abortion, immigration, or national defense. Political careers are made or ruined on these issues. Voters, not campaign contributors, rule. Campaign contributions like those documented by CRP are going to be conclusive until privacy becomes an issue that determines which way a person will vote. I'll leave it for others to say whether this is a good or a bad state of affairs, but this is reality in Washington. As you can see from Congress' slow march toward legal immunity for telecom companies, the voting public is not there yet when it comes to privacy and electronic surveillance.