Year in review: Snooping gets sanctioned

When U.S. President-elect Barack Obama was merely candidate Obama, he told CNET News in no uncertain terms that he opposed the idea of immunizing any telecommunications company that opened its network to the National Security Agency.

In February 2008, the Senate voted on a proposal extending retroactive immunity to AT&T or any company found to have violated federal privacy laws. Obama opposed immunity at the time.

But by the time the final vote happened in July, Obama had secured enough votes to win the Democratic nomination, and he flip-flopped. He joined the majority of his colleagues in voting 69 to 28 for immunity from lawsuits.

For his part, Republican candidate Sen. John McCain also appeared to waffle over whether to support retroactive immunity.

The bill did become law, but the story isn't over yet. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is pursuing a privacy lawsuit against AT&T in San Francisco, and a federal judge heard arguments in December about whether Congress' grant of immunity complies with the U.S. Constitution. A decision is expected at any time.

Credit: U.S. inspector general

Here is an actual redacted page from
a U.S. inspector general's report
on the FBI's surveillance powers.

Politicians may have chosen to bless privacy violations by the executive branch, but they were eager to point the finger at alleged marketing-related misdeeds by corporations.

That happened most prominently in the controversy that erupted in May over whether Internet service providers should be able to intercept traffic--only for the purpose of delivering relevant advertisements--if customers have not explicitly chosen to participate. Hearings were held, threats were made, and eventually, the company known as NebuAd suspended its plans.

The double standard wasn't limited to NebuAd. In April, then-Sen. Joe Biden said federal and local police should use custom software to monitor peer-to-peer networks for illegal activity, and that $1 billion in tax dollars should be spent to help make that happen. A profile of the incoming vice president shows that his surveillance-friendly views are long-held.

Similarly, the FBI announced that it wanted new legislation that would allow federal police to monitor the Internet for "illegal activity," which raises additional privacy concerns. The FBI also lobbied Congress for a law forcing Internet service providers to keep records of their users' activities for later review by police.

The presidential election brought its share of privacy promises, pledges, and missteps. Joe the Plumber was the subject of some extracurricular snooping, and Sarah Palin found that her Yahoo e-mail account was hacked. Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr pledged to be the privacy candidate, but that didn't propel him to victory.