Thread: Should they be culpable?

Without a warrant, the feds should not have been given information - this is a constitutional protection. Big brother is not only watching - so is your phone company. Is this the country you want to live in? Sounds like the soviet union to me!


Verizon provided data to Feds 720 times without court order or determining its legality

As Congress debates whether to shield phone and Internet companies from lawsuits alleging they mishandled customers' private records, Verizon, the nations second-largest telecommunications firm, said it has provided telephone and Internet records to federal investigators hundreds of times since 2005.
Verizon has provided data to federal authorities on an emergency basis without a court order -- and without determining the requests' legality -- 720 times between January 2005 and September of this year. The company's revelation came in a 13-page letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee released Monday.
Committee Chairman John D. Dingell (D-MI) and two other Democrats on the panel also requested information from AT&T, and Qwest Communications about those companies compliance with federal requests for customer data, but those companies responses were not as detailed as Verizon's.
"The responses from these telecommunication companies highlight the need for Congress to continue pressing the Bush administration for answers," said Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), one of the committee member requesting the information. "The water is as murky as ever on this issue and it's past time for the administration to come clean."
The letters were released as Congress continues its work updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which regulates intelligence agencies' eavesdropping on Americans. A Senate proposal to be introduced this week is expected to grant immunity from civil lawsuits or criminal prosecution to telecom companies that assisted President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program.
Verizon said its ability to turn over customer information without a court order "on an emergency basis is critical to the public safety," and the company claimed its ability to do so is protected by various federal statutes. The company listed examples where its cooperation in an emergency helped authorities track down pedophiles, diffuse hostage situations and thwart a high school bomb plot; none of its specific examples appeared to involve terrorism investigations.
The Verizon letter also revealed that the FBI used National Security Letters to request a "two-generation community of interest" related to a particular subscriber, meaning a list of every person the target called and every person called by those people. Verizon says it does not keep such information.
Details surrounding the Bush administration's efforts to spy on Americans have been trickling out gradually since the scheme was revealed in December 2005 in the New York Times.
A separate congressional committee requested more information about precisely when the covert -- and possibly illegal -- surveillance began, after a former Qwest CEO alleged the National Security Agency approached him about a covert program nine months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. When Joe Nacchio refused to participate in the program, believing it to be illegal, he alleges the NSA retaliated by revoking expected lucrative contracts from Qwest.
Last year, USA Today reported that Qwest was the only telecom not to comply with government request to turn over massive amounts of telephone records for potential data-mining, although it remains unclear whether that program was the one discussed in February.
"It is crucial ... that Congress be fully informed of all the Administration's surveillance activities involving telecommunications companies, particularly in light of the Administration's request that retroactive immunity from liability be provided to these companies and Administration officials," House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) wrote to the Director of National Intelligence, requesting a full briefing on the programs.
Civil liberties advocates have fiercely lobbied against granting immunity to telecom companies, especially without knowing the full scope of the surveillance programs. The administration has refused to provide full details to Congress, citing state secrets and executive privilege.
"It's rare in these situations where there's agreement between the plaintiffs and the defendants -- that there are plenty of protections for telecommunications providers in the existing laws," Kurt Opsahl, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the Washington Post. "It appears that we both agree that the court should be able to look at the full situation, despite the state-secrets privilege."

I pray GWB is murdered

Originally Posted by Babylon

I pray GWB is murdered

Karma - only the thought of that wish times 3 keeps me from joining you. I simply wish he is forced to experience whatever it will take to teach him the lessons he needs to learn before the country is destroyed. This is why dry alcoholics make bad presidents.

Originally Posted by jojo

Karma - only the thought of that wish times 3 keeps me from joining you. I simply wish he is forced to experience whatever it will take to teach him the lessons he needs to learn before the country is destroyed. This is why dry alcoholics make bad presidents.

I was only playing, but I do wish that for Hillary, because she's evil and wants to hurt Americans with her Pride.

Karma never seems to make around to those who are deserving.

Yep, I have verizon. Every time my friends and family and I start talking politics I say "Hi NSA, fuck you NSA".

"There is an atmosphere of ambiguity which clouds this entire area," Rep. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, said in an interview with CNN. "Congress needs to know. The American people need to know what the Bush administration is doing in the name of the American people to its own citizens. And right now we don't know the answers."

AT&T and Qwest Communications International also submitted information to the committee, but Verizon's response was the most detailed. It said that from 2005 through September it received almost 240,000 requests from government agencies.

In May 2006, USA Today reported the National Security Agency had been collecting the records of tens of millions of customers from various companies. A former Qwest executive has said he decided not to participate in that program because of its questionable legality.

Verizon, AT&T and Qwest are all facing lawsuits about their possible participation in various government efforts and therefore have said they cannot comment.

The Justice Department has invoked the "state secrets" privilege to prevent the firms from confirming or denying possible involvement in specific intelligence operations.

Wayne Watts, AT&T's senior executive vice president and general counsel, wrote, "Our company essentially finds itself caught in the middle of an oversight dispute between the Congress and the executive relating to government surveillance activities. ... Disputes of this kind need to be resolved through accommodation between the two political branches of government."

Verizon, which has about 30 million phone and 70 million wireless subscribers, also disclosed it had received subpoenas for more detailed information about whom a person under investigation had called.

Not only had authorities sought information about the person called but wanted to know whom, in turn, that person then communicated with -- a "calling circle" or "community of interest."

The company said it did not provide that information because it doesn't keep such records. Government officials have said there was a standard that had to be met before making that type of request.

Verizon offers details on records releases - CNN.com

Are we ready to impeach yet? Spying without a warrant on US citizens?

Originally Posted by ViolaLeee

Are we ready to impeach yet? Spying without a warrant on US citizens?

Isn't this more the fault of Verizon and other companies involved. Are they breaking their own privacy policy? I don't find it wrong to ask for something.

The US government is supposed to UPHOLD and PROTECT the constitution. The constitution protects us from being spied on by them without a warrant. Don't worry, the companies are being sued by the people. What will happen to the government?

Maybe they'll get away with it.

And that will be a damn shame and a black mark in the history of our country.

I am not A bush lover, but it amazes me why the blame of this is all going to him. Impeach Bush? Ok, does that mean we believe no one in congress, both Republican and Democrat is responsible for anything? Congress holds a lot more responsibility for this mess than people want to lay on him. It is easy to point at a very hated President and just lay the blame on his feet.

Bush ordered the spying without congress's approval. Then when the Supreme Court heard it, Bush said he stopped it. Bush thinks he has more power than the congress. He apparently missed that day in school. The one where they taught about the 3 EQUAL branches.

Apparently he does...................
If not, why doesn't the democratic led congress change it?