EFF Sues AT&T to Stop Illegal Surveillance

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Fri, 3 Feb 2006 14:11:50 -0800 (PST)

EFF Sues AT & T to Stop Illegal Surveillance

 

 

http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_01.php#004369

 

EFFector Vol. 19, No. 5 February 3, 2006 editor

 

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation

ISSN 1062-9424 -- In the 366th Issue of EFFector: --

 

 

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effector: n, Computer Sci. A device for producing a desired change.

 

* EFF Sues AT & T to Stop Illegal Surveillance

 

Telecom Collaborated with NSA to Spy on Customers

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

filed a class-action lawsuit against AT & T Tuesday, accusing

the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of

its customers by collaborating with the National Security

Agency (NSA) in its massive and illegal program to wiretap

and data-mine Americans' communications.

 

The NSA program came to light in December, when the New

York Times reported that the President had authorized the

agency to intercept telephone and Internet communications

inside the United States without the authorization of any

court. Over the ensuing weeks, it became clear that the

NSA program has been intercepting and analyzing millions of

Americans' communications, with the help of the country's

largest phone and Internet companies.

 

Reporting has also indicated that those same companies--and

AT & T specifically--have given the NSA direct access to

their vast databases of communications records, including

information about whom their customers have phoned or

emailed with in the past. And yet little has been

accomplished by this illegal spying: recent reports have

shown that the data from this wholesale surveillance has

done little more than waste FBI resources on dead leads.

 

" The NSA program is apparently the biggest fishing

expedition ever devised, scanning millions of ordinary

Americans' phone calls and emails for 'suspicious'

patterns, and it's the collaboration of US telecom

companies like AT & T that makes it possible, " said EFF Staff

Attorney Kevin Bankston. " When the government defends

spying on Americans by saying, 'If you're talking to

terrorists we want to know about it,' that's not even close

to the whole story. "

 

In the lawsuit, EFF alleges that AT & T, in addition to

allowing the NSA direct access to the phone and Internet

communications passing over its network, has given the

government unfettered access to its over 300 terabyte

" Daytona " database of caller information--one of the

largest databases in the world.

 

" AT & T's customers reasonably expect that their

communications are private and have long trusted AT & T to

follow the law and protect that privacy. Unfortunately,

AT & T has betrayed that trust, " said EFF Senior Staff

Attorney Lee Tien. " At the NSA's request, AT & T eviscerated

the legal safeguards required by Congress and the courts

with a keystroke. "

 

By opening its network and databases to unrestricted spying

by the government, EFF alleges that AT & T has violated the

privacy of AT & T customers and the people they call and

email, as well as broken longstanding communications

privacy laws.

 

While other organizations are suing the government

directly, EFF is seeking to protect Americans' privacy by

stopping the collaboration of AT & T with the illegal NSA

spying program and making it economically impossible for

AT & T to continue to give its customers' information to the

government.

 

" Congress has set up strong laws protecting the privacy of

your communications, strictly limiting when telephone and

Internet companies can subject your phone calls to

government scrutiny, " said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl.

" The companies that have betrayed their customers' trust by

illegally handing the NSA direct access to their networks

and databases must be brought to account. AT & T needs to put

a sign on its door that reads, 'Come Back With a Warrant.' "

 

In the suit filed Tuesday, EFF is representing the class of

all AT & T customers nationwide. EFF is seeking an

injunction to stop AT & T participation in the illegal NSA

program, as well as billions of dollars in damages for

violation of federal privacy laws. Working with EFF in the

lawsuit are the law firms Traber & Voorhees, and Lerach

Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP.

 

For the full complaint:

<http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/att-complaint.pdf>

For more on EFF's suit:

<http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/>

For this release:

<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_01.php#004369>

 

* miniLinks

miniLinks features noteworthy news items from around the

Internet.

~ Your Senator Needs an iPod

IPac starts a campaign to bring modern, innovative technology

into the hands of Senators--so they'll know first hand what

the flag laws could do to interoperability and fair use.

<http://ipaction.org/campaigns/ipod/>

 

~ Evading the Google Eye

MIT Tech Review interviews EFF Chief Technologist Chris

Palmer about how to protect your privacy.

<http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech/wtr_16216,308,p1.html>

 

~ DRM: Media Companies' Next Flop?

CNET casts a skeptical eye over how DRM will improve the

content industry's bottom line.

<http://news.com.com/DRM+Media+companies+next+flop/2030-1069_3-6032936.html>

 

~ Code Is Not A Crime (European Edition)

The UK considers banning software with possible malicious

uses.

<http://talkpolitics.users20.donhost.co.uk/index.php?title=another_fine_mess>

 

~ Exit, Pursued by a Lawyer

Copyright maximalism comes to the world of play direction.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/theater/newsandfeatures/29gree.html?_r=1>

 

~ Spies, Lies and Wiretaps

New York Times efficiently presents the obvious flaws

in the Administration's wiretap non-answers.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/opinion/29sun1.html?pagewanted=1 & _r=2 & hp>

 

~ Some Thoughts on Google in China

Matthew Skala with some thoughtful commentary on Google's

options--both moral and stock.

<http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/lawpoli/free-_expression/google-china-censorship.php>

 

~ Liberte, Interoperabilite, User-modifiabilite

A French take on the problems with DRM, free software, and

anti-circumvention law.

<http://www.debatpublic.net/Members/paigrain/blogue/DRMS#english>

 

~ News From the Evil Parallel Universe EFF Chair

Brad Templeton--or rather his evil twin--explains how CALEA

wiretapping regulations will be a boon to incumbent telcos,

and a marvelous disaster for new entrants into world of

telephony.

<http://ideas.4brad.com/node/346>

 

~ Chinese New Year: Resolutions for Google

Some thoughts for the search-engine giant after its

controversial decision.

<http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004362.php>

 

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Editor:

Rebecca Jeschke, Media Coordinator

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