AT and T BellSouth and Verizon Accused of Violating Privacy Laws

On Friday May 12, 2006, a day after USA Today published a story alleging that the U.S.A.’s National Security Agency (NSA) has been secretly collecting phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and Bell South, two public interest lawyers in New Jersey filed a $50 billion lawsuit against Verizon for privacy violations in turning over the records to the NSA without a warrant. The suit alleges that Verizon violated the U.S. Constitution and Telecommunications Act in disclosing the records, and seeks $1000 for each Telecommunications Act violation, or $50 billion if the case is certified as a class action ($1000 for each of Verizon’s 50 million customers). The suit also seeks to block Verizon from turning over any additional records to the NSA without a warrant or consent of the subscriber.

Verizon, the US’s largest telecommunications corporation by revenue, has stated that since the program is highly classified, they are unable to confirm or deny whether they had any relationship to it. Verizon has also declined to comment about the lawsuit.

This week, BellSouth and AT&T were added as defendants to the suit.

For additional information, visit:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/15/news/companies/verizon/

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/14593435.htm

For a copy of Verizon’s issued statement, visit:

Volume IV

AT and T BellSouth and Verizon Accused of Violating Privacy Laws