AT&T, Group Challenge U.S. Spy Program

[ProSense]

AT&T, Group Challenge U.S. Spy Program

By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 20 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO - AT&T Inc. and an Internet advocacy group are waging in federal court a privacy battle that could expose the reach of the Bush administration's secretive domestic wiretapping program.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said it obtained documents from a former AT&T technician showing that the National Security Agency is capable of monitoring all communications on AT&T's network.

"It appears the NSA is capable of conducting what amounts to vacuum-cleaner surveillance of all the data crossing the Internet, whether that be people's e-mail, Web surfing or any other data," whistle-blower Mark Klein, who worked for the company for 22 years, said in a statement released by his lawyers.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker is considering whether to unseal documents that Klein provided and AT&T wants kept secret. EFF filed the documents under seal as a courtesy to the phone company, but is seeking to unseal them.

The EFF lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, seeks to stop the surveillance program that started shortly after the 2001 terror attacks. The suit is based in large part on the Klein documents, which detail secret spying rooms and electronic surveillance equipment in AT&T facilities.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060413/ap_on_hi_te/domestic_spying_lawsuit_1

[democracyindanger]

1. AT&T CYA

Trying to mitigate the embarassment of the recent news that they set up entire rooms for the NSA.

[0007]

2. That's for sure. These are indeed real money lords. I hate 'em!