AT&T is being sued for participating in an NSA spy program.
The telecommunications giant was named in a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation on Tuesday in San Francisco. The EFF claims AT&T opened up its facilities to the government agency and has violated free speech by assisting “the government in its secret surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans.” EFF believes AT&T’s actions were unconstitutional and violated a federal wiretapping law which prohibits electronic surveillance "except as authorized by statute."
AT&T has yet to respond to the lawsuit. Kevin Bankston, an EFF staff attorney, anticipates the government intervening in this case in defense of AT&T. The EFF bills itself as an organization that defends “your rights in the digital world” on its official website. It explains the government’s collaboration with AT&T and other carriers on its homepage. “The US government, with assistance from major telecommunications carriers including AT&T, has engaged in massive, illegal dragnet surveillance of the domestic communications and communications records of millions of ordinary Americans since at least 2001.” The NSA was using these carriers to intercept the phone calls and Internet communications of millions of Americans, according to the organization. In 2006, the EFF first obtained evidence of an AT&T technician helping the government with illegal surveillance. The organization has engaged in many battles over this issue since then and hoped to score a victory this time around.
Source: cnet.com
