{Bushies Lying As Usual}
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12837911/
Secret papers to be used in domestic spy suit
Judge rebuffs AT&T bid to regain records from privacy advocacy group
Updated: 3:38 p.m. ET May 17, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO - Secret documents that allegedly detail the surveillance
of AT&T phone lines under the Bush administration’s domestic spying
program can be used in a lawsuit against the telephone giant, a federal
judge ruled Wednesday, but the records will remain sealed.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker rejected a bid by AT&T Inc. to return
the records that were given to the privacy advocate Electronic Frontier
Foundation by a former AT&T technician. But Walker said the records
would remain under seal until it can be determined whether they reveal
trade secrets.
“The best course of action is to preserve the status quo,” Walker said.
The hearing is the first in a lawsuit challenging the administration’s
secretive domestic surveillance program.
The lawsuit, filed by EFF in U.S. District Court, accuses AT&T of
illegally cooperating with the National Security Agency to make
communications on the company’s networks available to the spy agency
without warrants.
“They are asking this court to suppress evidence of AT&T’s criminal
activity,” EFF lawyer Maria Morris said in arguing that the records
remain part of the case.
AT&T lawyer David Anderson, arguing the records should be returned to
the company, said, “I thought it was unfortunate counsel chose to use
the terms ’criminal activities’ and ’crimes.”’
The lawsuit is based largely on the former technician’s documents, which
the technician and EFF assert show that the NSA is capable of monitoring
communications on AT&T’s network after the NSA installed equipment in
secret rooms at AT&T offices in San Francisco, Seattle, San Jose, Los
Angeles and San Diego.
AT&T claims trade secrets
San Antonio-based AT&T claims the documents involve trade secrets, and
it has “an obligation to assist law enforcement and other government
agencies responsible for protecting the public welfare.”
The Bush administration, meanwhile, urged Walker to dismiss the case,
saying it threatens to divulge state secrets and jeopardize national
security. The government argued in briefs that the courts cannot decide
the constitutionality of the president’s asserted wartime powers to
eavesdrop on Americans without warrants.
USA Today reported last week that the NSA was secretly collecting the
records of phone calls by millions of ordinary Americans to build a
database of all calls within the country.
Two major telecoms — Verizon and BellSouth — have said they did not
provide customer call data to the NSA, but USA Today stood by its story.
AT&T has not denied involvement.
President Bush announced in December that the NSA has been conducting
warrantless surveillance of calls and e-mails thought to involve
al-Qaida terrorists following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
© 2006 The Associated Press
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Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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