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ACLU of Connecticut Is One Of 20 State Affiliates Urging
Local Officials To Investigate Phone Companies' Cooperation With Spy Agency
Contact: Renee C. Redman, ACLU-CT Legal
Director, (860) 247-9823 x211
Roger C. Vann, ACLU-CT Executive
Director, (860) 247-9823 x219
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2006
NEW YORK
-- Responding to reports that phone companies are turning over private details about Americans' telephone
calls to the National Security Agency, the American Civil Liberties
Union today launched a nationwide initiative to end illegal government spying.
The ACLU of Connecticut and
affiliates in 19 other states today filed complaints with Public Utility
Commissions or sent letters to state Attorneys General and other officials
demanding investigations into whether
local telecommunications companies allowed the NSA to spy on their customers.
"It's time for this illegal
invasion of privacy, that could affect everyone in this country, to be
unveiled," said Roger C. Vann, Executive of the ACLU of Connecticut, which
today filed a formal complaint with the Connecticut Department of Public
Utility Control (DPUC) asking for a formal investigation to determine whether
AT&T and/or Verizon have disclosed information on their customers in
Connecticut to the National Security Agency. Additionally, ACLU-CT has asked
the DPUC to promulgate regulations that explicitly prohibit the disclosure of
customer information without a court order, warrant or subpoena. "We do not
seek to obstruct legitimate law enforcement activities, but we are determined
to stand up for the fundamental privacy and due process rights of people whose
telephone records have been divulged without a warrant, notice or consent." Read the ACLU-CT DPUC Complaint.
The ACLU today also sent a letter to the Federal Communications
Commission urging the agency to reconsider its refusal to investigate reports
that at least three major telecommunications companies -- AT&T,
BellSouth and Verizon -- cooperated with the NSA in an effort to collect
calling information and call patterns on every American.
In its letter, the ACLU refuted the agency's assertion - made
public late yesterday - that the classified nature of NSA activities render it
"unable" to investigate potential wrongdoing.
The ACLU noted that the
government is publicly defending the program, so there is no way that all the
details about it are "state secrets" or involve classified information. The letter also pointed out that the
government has a recent history of overclassifying information and conveniently
claiming that any evidence of embarrassing or illegal actions are "state
secrets."
In addition to the ACLU of
Connecticut, actions were filed today by ACLU affiliates in Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
Other ACLU affiliates are expected to file additional letters
and complaints in the coming weeks.
"We cannot sit by while the
government and the phone companies collude in this massive, illegal and
fundamentally un-American invasion of our privacy," said ACLU Executive
Director Anthony D. Romero. "And
unfortunately, we cannot wait for Congress to act. The ACLU is mobilizing its
members and supporters nationwide to
demand investigations into this
shocking breach of trust. And we are
asking the FCC to use its authority to uncover the facts about how far the
president's illegal spying has gone. The American people want answers."
As part of its nationwide
campaign, the ACLU today is running full-page advertisements in The New York
Times and half a dozen major daily newspapers, with the headline: "If
You've Used a Telephone in the Last Five Years, Read This." The advertisement provides a link to www.aclu.org/dontspy, where individuals can
add their names to the public record in the ACLU's complaints with Public
Utility Commissions and send e-mails to the FCC urging that it investigate the
matter. "We are seeking to create the
perfect storm to end illegal NSA spying," said Barry Steinhardt, director of
the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program.
When the NSA spying program was
initially uncovered last December, the ACLU was one of the first organizations
to bring a legal challenge, acting on behalf of a prominent and politically
diverse group of journalists, scholars and lawyers. That challenge will be
heard before Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit
on Monday, June 12; it will be the first ever hearing on the legality of NSA
spying since the program was disclosed.
More information on the case is
online at www.aclu.org/nsaspying
The ACLU's FCC letter, the
affiliate letters, today's full-page advertisement and other background is
online at www.aclu.org/dontspy
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