AT&T sued over NSA spy program

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://news.com.com/AT38T+sued+over+NSA+spy+program/2100-1028_3-6033501.html
?tag=nefd.top
 
By Declan McCullagh  
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Published: January 31, 2006, 1:11 PM PST 

AT&T has been named a defendant in a class action lawsuit that claims the
telecommunications company illegally cooperated with the National Security
Agency's secret eavesdropping program. 

The lawsuit, scheduled to be filed Tuesday in San Francisco's federal
district court, charges that AT&T has opened its telecommunications
facilities up to the NSA and continues to "to assist the government in its
secret surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans." 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed the suit, says AT&T's
alleged cooperation violates free speech and privacy rights found in the
U.S. Constitution and also contravenes federal wiretapping law, which
prohibits electronic surveillance "except as authorized by statute." 

Kevin Bankston, an EFF staff attorney, said he anticipates that the Bush
administration will intervene in the case on behalf of AT&T. "We are
definitely going to have a fight with the government and AT&T," he said. 

AT&T said Tuesday that it needed to review the complaint before it could
respond. But AT&T spokesman Dave Pacholczyk told CNET News.com last week in
response to a query about NSA cooperation: "We don't comment on matters of
national security." 

A Los Angeles Times article dated Dec. 26 quoted an unnamed source as saying
the NSA has a "direct hookup" into an AT&T database that stores information
about all domestic phone calls, including how long they lasted.

CNET News.com's Anne Broache contributed to this report 

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