Clear Majority Rejects Immunity for Phone Companies

January 18, 2008
Clear Majority Rejects Immunity for Phone Companies

Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters favor requiring the government to obtain a warrant from a court
before wiretapping the conversations U.S. citizens have with people in other countries—a figure quite consistent with the 61% opposition we found in October. An outright majority of voters (55%)
“strongly” supports requiring warrants. Only one-third (33%) support warrantless wiretaps of Americans’ international conversations, with fewer than 1-in-4 (24%) strongly supporting
warrantless wiretaps.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters reject immunity for phone companies that may have violated the law by selling customers’ private information to the government, preferring to let courts decide the outcome of any cases. Again intensity favors opponents of immunity, with 45% "strongly" opposed. Just one-third (33%) support immunity for the phone companies, with only about 1-in-5
(22%) strongly supporting immunity.