Verizon Denies Giving NSA Phone Records
By PETER SVENSSON,
AP Technology Writer
42 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Verizon Communications Inc. on Tuesday joined fellow phone
company BellSouth in denying key points of a USA Today story that said
the companies had provided records of millions of phone calls to the
government.
Verizon has not provided customer call data to the National Security
Agency, nor had it been asked to do so, the company said in an
e-mailed statement. The statement came a day after Atlanta-based
BellSouth Corp. made a similar denial.
"One of the most glaring and repeated falsehoods in the media
reporting is the assertion that, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks,
Verizon was approached by NSA and entered into an arrangement to
provide the NSA with data from its customers' domestic calls," the
statement read.
The denials leave open the possibility that the NSA directed its
requests to long-distance companies, which collect billing data on
long-distance calls placed by local-service customers of BellSouth and
Verizon.
A story in USA Today last Thursday said Verizon, AT&T Inc. and
BellSouth had complied with an NSA request for tens of millions of
customer phone records after the 2001 terror attacks. The report
sparked a national debate on federal surveillance tactics.
The newspaper story cited anonymous sources "with direct knowledge of
the arrangement."
"Sources told us that BellSouth and Verizon records are included in
the database," USA Today spokesman Steve Anderson said.
"We're confident in our coverage of the phone database story,"
Anderson added, "but we won't summarily dismiss BellSouth's and
Verizon's denials without taking a closer look."
An attorney for the former chief executive of Qwest Communications
International Inc., on Friday lent support to USA Today's story. He
said the Denver company had been approached by the government, but had
denied the request for phone records because it appeared to violate
privacy law.
Qwest is a regional phone company with a substantial long-distance
business. It was not clear if the government's request applied only to
Qwest's long-distance business.
Verizon's statement suggested that USA Today may have erred in not
drawing a distinction between long-distance and local telephone calls.
"Phone companies do not even make records of local calls in most cases
because the vast majority of customers are not billed per call for
local calls," Verizon said.
Tuesday's denial did not apply to MCI, the long-distance carrier
Verizon acquired in January. In an earlier statement, Verizon said it
is in the process of ensuring that its policies are put in place in
the former MCI business.
Three smaller phone companies, with mainly local business, contacted
by The Associated Press on Tuesday also denied being approached by the
NSA. Representatives at Alltel Corp., Citizens Communications Co. and
CenturyTel Inc. all said they had no knowledge of NSA requests to
their companies.
The denials by Verizon and BellSouth leave AT&T as the sole company
named in the USA Today article that hasn't denied involvement. On
Thursday, San Antonio-based AT&T said it had "an obligation to assist
law enforcement and other government agencies responsible for
protecting the public welfare," but said it would assist only as
allowed within the law.
AT&T spokesman Michael Coe said Tuesday the company had no further
comment.
AT&T Inc. was formed last year when regional phone company SBC
Communications Inc. bought AT&T Corp., the long-distance and corporate
carrier, and adopted its name.
The other major long-distance company, Sprint Nextel Corp., has issued
a statement similar to AT&T's.
President Bush insisted Tuesday that the government does not
listen to domestic telephone conversations among ordinary Americans.
But he declined to specifically discuss the compiling of phone
records, or whether that would amount to an invasion of privacy.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (news, bio, voting record), R-Utah, Tuesday said that
at least two of the chief judges on the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court, which approves warrants for intelligence
surveillance, had been informed since 2001 of White House-approved
National Security Agency monitoring operations, and had not raised
objections.
On Monday, a Democratic member of the Federal Communications
Commission said the FCC should investigate whether the companies
violated federal communications law.
BellSouth, Verizon and AT&T are facing a number of lawsuits by
customers who allege violations of their privacy, including one in New
York that seeks $200 billion in damages.
In April, an Internet advocacy group sued AT&T, accusing it of
providing complete access to all communications on its network to the
NSA.
--
"There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to
whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is
impossible." -- Jack Vance
"Civilizaton is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography" -- Ambrose Bierce
"Long term commitment in relationships is only necessary because it takes
so damn long to raise children. Marriage may well be some kind of trick
to keep the males around beyond sexual satiation." -- Captain Compassion
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net
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