AT&T privacy case to go ahead
p2pnet.net News:- Attempts to to get a warrantless-wiretapping case against AT&T thrown out have failed. To dismiss the case would, “sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security,” a US federal judge has decided.
The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) filed the class-action suit against AT&T in January, alleging AT&T had given the National Security Agency (NSA) secret direct access to the phone calls and emails going over its network.
The Bush administration claimed, “the very existence of the super-secret National Security Agency (NSA) eavesdropping program was a state secret requiring dismissal of the case,” says The San Jose Mercury News.
“The government has opened the door for judicial inquiry by publicly confirming and denying material information about its monitoring of communications content,” Walker wrote, says The New York Times.
“Because of the public disclosures by the government and AT&T, the court cannot conclude that merely maintaining this action creates a ‘reasonable danger’ of harming national security.”
AT&T says it’s caught in the middle between the government and civil liberties advocates and has no way to defend itself because of national security restrictions.
“The Bush administration has been adamant in insisting that the program was constitutional under the president’s wartime authority.” says The Mercury News. “But it agreed last week to a compromise bill drafted by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., that would let the administration submit the program to a review by a special court established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.”
However, Walker said he may grant a motion for dismissal by AT&T “at some point,” if he finds that evidence essential to the company’s defense is blocked on national security grounds, adds the story.
But for now, “it is important to note that even the state-secrets privilege has its limits,” he said.
The next hearing by the San Francisco court is scheduled for Aug. 8 to establish a procedure for producing sensitive evidence and appointing an expert to help the court.
The decision follows a statement by US attorney general Alberto Gonzales that Bush, "personally blocked a Justice Department investigation into the antiterrorism eavesdropping program that intercepts international phone calls and e-mails of Americans, administration officials said Tuesday" and, "refused to grant security clearances for department investigators who were looking into the role Justice lawyers played in crafting the program".
Also See:
EFF – EFF’s Spying Case Moves Forward – Judge Denies Government’s Motion to Dismiss AT&T Case, July 20, 2006
The San Jose Mercury News – Phone records lawsuit to proceed, January 21, 2005
The New York Times – Judge Declines to Dismiss Privacy Suit Against AT&T, July 21, 2006
personally blocked – Bush blocked surveillance probe, July 19, 2006
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