Internal AT&T Documents Had Been Temporarily Held Back Due To Government's Concerns
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) this week filed the legal briefs and evidence supporting its motion for a preliminary injunction in its class-action lawsuit against AT&T. After asking EFF to hold back the documents so that it could review them, the Department of Justice consented to EFF's filing them under seal -- a well- established procedure that prohibits public access and permits only the judge and the 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."
"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 Staff Attorney 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. We are asking the Court to put a stop to it now."
EFF's evidence regarding AT&T's dragnet surveillance of its networks includes a declaration by Mark Klein, a retired AT&T telecommunications technician, and several internal AT&T documents. This evidence was bolstered and explained by the expert opinion of 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.
"The public deserves to know about AT&T's illegal program," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "In an abundance of caution, we are providing AT&T with an opportunity to explain itself before this material goes on the public docket, but we believe that justice will ultimately require full disclosure."
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, including AT&T.
"Mark Klein is a true American hero," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. "He has bravely come forward with information critical for proving AT&T's involvement with the government's invasive surveillance program."
In the lawsuit, EFF is representing the class of all AT&T residential customers nationwide. Working with EFF in the lawsuit are the law firms Traber & Voorhees, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP and the Law Office of Richard R. Wiebe.
Letter to the Editor
When the president breaks the law it sets a bad example for society, especially the children. It is like telling the world that America is a fundamentally dishonest nation. Our president is a criminal, a liar, and an election cheater. He lies to send men away to die. He takes food from the poor and medicine from the old to give fat cat corporations a tax break, leaving the poor folk with a 9 trillion dollar debt. What does this tell the world about us? What example does it set for the children? And how will it affect our future.
I call on all the people of the world that it is time that we embrace the power of Reality. That we turn to Reality to make our important decisions. We need to think about Reality when we vote. There's a new Gospel. There's a new holy book. There's a new way of looking at religion and experiencing the real world as it really is. The Gospel of Reality. In these troubled times when nations contemplate nuclear war and weapons of mass destruction, what is it that gives us the moral certitude to help us decide that wiping out the human race is a really bad idea? There is but one source of true wisdom, and that is to open your hearts to Reality, embrace the real world, and commit your life to making decisions that make sense. Because if we turn our backs on Reality, Reality will punish us.
Letter to the Editor
Now we find out that Bush was the one who gave the order to tell Scooter Libby to leak government secrets to the press for the purpose of political revenge that led to the outing of the name of a CIA agent. But, since Bush is above the law when it comes to illegal wiretapping I suppose that this is legal too because he's above the law. After all, America is at war. A war he got us into by lying. Will someone please give Bush a Monica so we can impeach him?
Letter to the Editor
One thing I thing we can agree on about who hit who first is that I doubt that the Capitol Police will fail to recognize Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's face now. Sometime you have to hit someone to get them to remember you.
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Just another way for cops to try to intimidate blacks. I think Cynthia McKinney was being hassled by racist cops. When you work in a place for 11 years they can't say they didn't know who you were. That's bullshit.
I used to be a Vonage fan but no more. I'm trying to transfer a phone number away from Vonage. I had intended to keep the service under a different number but now I'm not going to.
I got my number originally from SBC and transferred it to Vonage. But I never thought at the time I transferred it that they would attempt to keep it and keep me from transferring it to anyone else. What they are doing is highly illegal and I'm not going to put up with it. I'm still figuring out how to proceed but the normal processes aren't working. So I need to do something extreme.
In the mean time - DON'T USE VONAGE - they are just a bunch of fucking theives.
Dear Church of Reality Members,
A few months ago I asked you to email Zogby polling to ask them to add Atheist/Realist/Humanist as a chouce of religion in their polls. They did for about two surveys. But I just got the latest survey and the Atheist/Realist/Humanist choice have been removed. So at 77% completed I stopped filling out the survey. The way I see it, if our religion isn't included then I'm not going to participate in their polls. Zogby has moved towards anti-realism in that the only religions the recognize are theists religions.
I am not going to participate in Zogby polls anymore and I'm sending him a copy of this email to let him know that. I don't understand why we are no longer worth counting, but if we aren't worth counting then our opinions aren't worth anything either and I'm not going to help any organization who only counts Theists religions.
I encourage you to write them and tell them how you feel about this.
Marc Perkel
First One
Church of Reality
Letter to the Editor
How bad does America have to get before we impeach Bush? Do we do it now, or do we wait till things get much worse? The Republican party is a cancer on America and it needs to be removed as soon as possible.