p2pnet - rss feed: US ‘dragnet surveillance’
p2p news / p2pnet: “Mark Klein is a true American hero,” says the EFF.
“He has bravely come forward with information critical for proving AT&T’s involvement with the government’s invasive surveillance program.”
The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) last week filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in its class-action lawsuit against AT&T. It said the company had to be prevented from “dragnet surveillance” which would violate the law and privacy of its customers by, “disclosing to the government the contents of its customers’ communications, as part of the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans’ communications”.
Yesterday it filed supporting legal briefs and evidence and after asking EFF to hold back the documents so it could review them, the Department of Justice allowed the EFF to file them as long as they were sealed to block public access.
Only the judge and litigants to see the evidence.
“While not a party to the case, the government was concerned that even this procedure would not provide sufficient security and has represented to the Court that it is ‘presently considering whether and, if so, how it will participate in this case,” says the EFF.
“The evidence that we are filing supports our claim that AT&T is diverting Internet traffic into the hands of the NSA wholesale, in violation of federal wiretapping laws and the Fourth Amendment,” said EFF lawyer Kevin Bankston.
“More than just threatening individuals’ privacy, AT&T’s apparent choice to give the government secret, direct access to millions of ordinary Americans’ Internet communications is a threat to the Constitution itself.”
The EFF’s evidence includes a declaration by Klein, a retired AT&T telecommunications technician, and several internal AT&T documents. It’s bolstered and explained by J. Scott Marcus, who served as senior technical advisor for Internet Technology to the Federal Communications Commission from July 2001 until July 2005.
“The internal AT&T documents and portions of the supporting declarations have been submitted to the Court under a tentative seal, a procedure that allows AT&T five court days to explain to the Court why the information should be kept from the public,” states the EFF.
The NSA program came to light in December when the New York Times reported president George W. Bush had authorized the agency to tap phone and Internet communications inside the US without the authorization of any court.
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Also See:
EFF - EFF Files Evidence in Motion to Stop AT&T’s Dragnet Surveillance, April 5, 2006
class-action lawsuit - EFF versus NSA, April 1, 206
April 6th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
Anybody who thinks this NSA/bush admin skullduggery is really about thwarting “turrarists” is living in a dream world.
If the fed only has American citizen’s best interests in mind then why the pig headed resistance to any judicial oversight? WHY?
It’s not security, the courts that would oversee this activity are secret.
It’s not about slowing down the process, they can file for warrants after the fact.
WHY?
April 7th, 2006 at 12:41 am
That’s it really. They have the capabilities - once the automation is set up, it’s easy and cheap - and it MAY be useful to them at some point in the future. So as far as the NSA is concerned, why NOT?
April 10th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Yes, but your reply side-steps the issue of why the administration will not submit to judicial oversight. And in this case “Because they can” is an unsatisfactory answer. This is exactly the kind of thing that is imploding the repub party. Perhaps george and dick have moved beyond even caring about that?