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05.02.06
Government Intervenes In AT&T Case
 By
David A. Utter
The federal government wants the case brought against AT&T by the Electronic Frontier Foundation dismissed on the grounds of military and state secrets privilege.
As anticipated, the US government filed a statement of interest with the court overseeing the EFF's lawsuit against AT&T. That statement comes in response to the January 2006 lawsuit filed by the EFF seeking information about data-mining programs it believes run at AT&T data centers, absorbing all the communications that pass through them in violation of the First & Fourth Amendments and several federal and state laws.
"The United States of America...hereby submits this Statement of Interest to advise the Court that the United States intends to assert the military and state secrets privilege in this action. In addition, the United States will also move to intervene to seek dismissal of this case," the statement of interest read.
News of the surveillance programs became public after leaks about the program reached the media. A technician named Mark Klein claimed to have been involved with installing equipment related to the alleged spying activities.
He provided statements, most of which are under seal, about how communications passing through a San Francisco switching facility also go through a secret room, visited in the past by NSA members, where they are collected by powerful data-mining computers.
AT&T has also filed motions to dismiss the case, claiming the plaintiffs are the wrong people to file such a suit since they have no reason to believe the government is or will be spying on them specifically. AT&T also claims immunity to the suit under existing telecommunication laws.
Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in response to the filing in the New York Times: "We think the government's right to conduct this program should be considered separately from the issue of whether a telecommunications firm has the right to break the law."
The assertion of state secrets privilege by the federal government probably will end the lawsuit. Invoking the privilege represents the government's willingness to use the powerful tool to prevent more details of its anti-terrorist surveillance programs from becoming public.
About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
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