Via EFF, a fascinating article on the possible constitutional issues raised by the push to give telecom companies retroactive immunity for illegal surveillance. Anthony Sebok points out that the courts have historically held that plaintiffs in tort suits have a constitutionally-protected property interest that the court cannot wipe away without compensation. I’m not a constitutional lawyer, so I won’t venture an opinion on whether his argument is right or not. But I think it does remind us of an important fact: the plaintiffs in these lawsuits are real people whose rights have allegedly been violated by these companies.

The FISA debate raises a lot of interesting policy questions about the appropriate relationships among the government, the courts, and the telecom industry. But while those questions are important, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that this debate is also about a contractual relationship between those telecom companies and millions of ordinary customers. Customers had a reasonable expectation that those companies would not share their private data with third parties unless doing so was legally required. It appears that certain large telecom companies may have violated that trust. If so, it seems to me that the customers should have their day in court.