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But he had another purpose, going forward: telling Congress
it must confer retroactive legal immunity on the telecoms that
assisted in the programme. Without it, he said, lawsuits over
their participation could bankrupt these companies. “Under the
president’s programme, the terrorist surveillance programme,
the private sector had assisted us,”Mr McConnell said. “Because if
you’re going to get access, you’ve got to have a partner.”
The apparently casual reference to the threat that frightens
voters and cows lawmakers is standard practice for a Bush
Administration spokesman. What was new from Mr McConnell
was his acknowledgment of another threat, this time to the
nation’s largest telecoms. Several major carriers are being sued
over their heretofore unconfirmed role in the surveillance
programme, which permitted eavesdropping without warrants
on the international communications of Americans who had
come under suspicion. Like some congressional legislators, these
telecoms may be about to repent at leisure their haste to give the
executive branch of government whatever it demanded in the
wake of 9/11. Meantime, Mr McConnell’s pre-emptive strike in
their behalf has produced some unintended consequences. The
Electronic Frontier Foundation, the leader in a lawsuit against
AT&T, said it might ask the court to consider Mr McConnell’s
comments in deciding whether to throw out the government’s
state-secrets argument.
Cindy Cohn, the group’s legal director, said: “They’ve really
undermined their own case.”
Elsewhere in telecom . . .
Finland’s Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile-phone maker, on
17
th
August filed a complaint with the US International Trade
Commission against Qualcomm Inc (San Diego, California),
the latest in a running battle between the two companies
over royalties for chips that run cellphones. According to
the commission’s website, the complaint relates to patents
for ‘wireless communication chips and chip sets.’ Nokia
and Qualcomm, – the world’s second-biggest maker of the
chips for mobile phones – have been haggling over a new
agreement since the old licence expired on 9
th
April. Nokia
claims Qualcomm is demanding too much in royalties for
third-generationphones, whichprovide faster Internet access.
A Qualcomm complaint against Nokia already before the
trade agency was scheduled for trial in September.
In brief . . .
The planned $2.7 billion acquisition of Tele Atlas (Lebanon,
New Hampshire) by Tom Tom, based in the Netherlands,
would position the Dutch company to gain market share in
the small but growing American market for car navigation
devices. Tom Tom hopes to build its US presence on the
strength of a constantly updating digital map, a motorist’s
aid dependent in part on information supplied by users.
The acquisition of Tele Atlas, which uses more than 50,000
sources including satellite and local photographs, will
enhance Tom Tom’s digital map database. Until recently,
Global Positioning System (GPS) equipage was confined
almost exclusively to high-end cars, but prices are dropping
quickly. According to Tele Atlas, 15% of cars in Europe and
about 8% in North America have GPS devices.
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Canadian auto parts giant Magna International Inc, on 30
th
August, won approval from the European Union for its plan
to sell a large stake in the company to Russian national Oleg
Deripaska for $1.54 billion. Under the deal, Mr Deripaska,
who is said to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin,
will take an estimated 18% stake in the company, giving him
the power to nominate six members of its 14-member board
of directors. Like Magna, the firm headed by Mr Deripaska –
Russian Machines – sells interior mirrors for light commercial
vehicles in Europe, and the European Commission regulators
concluded that the combination would not significantly
reduce competition. Magna (Aurora, Ontario) was expected
to seek immediate final court approval for the agreement,
which it said it hoped would close by the end of September.
Economics
Expectations for growth
in the US economy are scaled back
Most US economists still look for growth overall, into 2008.
But the summer’s financial crisis, deriving from a cascade of
sub-prime mortgage defaults, has taken its toll of optimism.
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