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ACLU seeks to rally population against government's phone snooping
By Larry Neumeister, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, May 25, 2006 | No comments posted.
NEW YORK - A civil rights group filed complaints with utility commissions and attorneys general in 20 states, including Washington, on Wednesday, demanding that authorities probe whether phone companies broke laws by sharing customer records with the government's biggest spy agency.
The American Civil Liberties Union announced its “Don't Spy On Me” campaign with the complaints and a demand that the Federal Communications Commission in Washington look into the matter.
In full-page ads in eight newspapers, including Seattle's, the ACLU asked the public to join the formal complaints, saying in bold type: “AT&T, Verizon and Other Phone Companies May Have Illegally Sent Your Phone Records to the National Security Agency.”
The campaign urges members of the public to go to an ACLU Web site to add their names to the complaints about allegations that telecommunications companies illegally cooperated with the NSA to collect calling information on Americans.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said in a teleconference Wednesday that the organization was demanding investigations by oversight bodies because Congress has been “curiously silent” on the issue. He said the public must pressure public officials to do their jobs.
Romero said the ACLU wanted to pressure the FCC and its chairman, Kevin Martin, to investigate the telephone records program even though Martin has said the agency does not have the power to review classified information.
A Democratic FCC commissioner, Michael J. Copps, said last week that the agency should investigate phone companies involved in the NSA program.
President Bush and other administration officials have neither confirmed nor denied a USA Today report that the NSA is collecting the calling records of ordinary Americans in its effort to detect the plans of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations.
Bush has said the administration's anti-terrorism surveillance programs are legal and constitutional.
The ACLU said its complaints were filed in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
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On the Net:
http://www.aclu.org
The American Civil Liberties Union announced its “Don't Spy On Me” campaign with the complaints and a demand that the Federal Communications Commission in Washington look into the matter.
In full-page ads in eight newspapers, including Seattle's, the ACLU asked the public to join the formal complaints, saying in bold type: “AT&T, Verizon and Other Phone Companies May Have Illegally Sent Your Phone Records to the National Security Agency.”
The campaign urges members of the public to go to an ACLU Web site to add their names to the complaints about allegations that telecommunications companies illegally cooperated with the NSA to collect calling information on Americans.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said in a teleconference Wednesday that the organization was demanding investigations by oversight bodies because Congress has been “curiously silent” on the issue. He said the public must pressure public officials to do their jobs.
Romero said the ACLU wanted to pressure the FCC and its chairman, Kevin Martin, to investigate the telephone records program even though Martin has said the agency does not have the power to review classified information.
A Democratic FCC commissioner, Michael J. Copps, said last week that the agency should investigate phone companies involved in the NSA program.
President Bush and other administration officials have neither confirmed nor denied a USA Today report that the NSA is collecting the calling records of ordinary Americans in its effort to detect the plans of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations.
Bush has said the administration's anti-terrorism surveillance programs are legal and constitutional.
The ACLU said its complaints were filed in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
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On the Net:
http://www.aclu.org
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