Commentary: No good deed goes unpunished

Fred, I want to let you know that I am among the Americans that 100% supports the democratic congress. I 100% support Nancy Pelosi... the first woman speaker in history. And I'm proud of it baby.

These companies should NOT be granted immunity from lawsuits. If they chose to follow government officials blindly, which I believe is the case, it's time to pay the consequences.

The government had all the information right in front of their eyes but ignored it. Now after the fact, they want to invade their citizens privacy... I think not.

what about violating the constitution the president swore to uphold ?
what about the fisa laws that were already in place and were ignored by the president, the corporations, and the fbi.

On the contrary, apparently someone in congress is trying to clear the way for citizens to violate one another's right to privacy at request from law enforcement. I appreciate the intent behind FBI, et al, attempts to preserve our liberties by fighting terrorists, but this does not legitimize illegal requests or compliance with illegal requests by law enforcement. Don't these companies have legal departments? Where were they on the day that these companies violated the law by handing over all this info?

Refusing to support this bill in the current form is the only thing a member of congress could do, and remain faithful to the sworn duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

Why the prevent the courts from examining the legality of citizen actions regardless of what is going on – terrorist attack or not? Terrorism and terrorists should be fought, but how can we countenance legislation refusing relief from the courts after companies blithely turned over information to gov. officials? I get the impression they didn't give it a second thought.

If this legislation somehow got voted in and upheld by the judiciary, it would effectively lop off an entire brach of the government by attempting to refuse access to the courts. The retroactive nature of the legislation reeks, too. The laws on the books at the time the alleged activity took place should prevail.

I believe that the courts may legitimately find that some corporate decisions to comply with government requests trampled on rights granted by the 4th amendment of the constitution (ever heard of the bill of rights?) and/or statute – FISA etc., as Mr. Solsvik noted in his comment.

I'm a conservative republican, and see no need for the cynical attacks against congressional leadership; if Pelosi & co. happen to agree with me about this, so be it. Oh well. If they are the only ones willing to keep our government and rights intact, that's a real disappointment.