WA POST Page A01: Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders

[L. Coyote]

Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders
Firm's Letter to Lawmakers Details Government Requests
By Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post Staff Writer - Oct 16, 2007; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101501857.html?hpid=topnews

Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005.

The company said it does not determine the requests' legality or necessity because to do so would slow efforts to save lives in criminal investigations.

In an Oct. 12 letter replying to Democratic lawmakers, Verizon offered a rare glimpse into the way telecommunications companies cooperate with government requests for information on U.S. citizens.

Verizon also disclosed that the FBI, using administrative subpoenas, sought information identifying not just a person making a call, but all the people that customer called, as well as the people those people called. ........

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[L. Coyote]

1. Just in time for this week's Senate intelligence committee's fight over telecom immunity

Today's Must Read
By Spencer Ackerman - Oct 16, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004460.php

.... the FBI wanted not just information on whom the target of its investigation contacted, but also the people whom the contacts contacted.

That's called "community of interest" information. Last month, The New York Times reported that the FBI has suspended seeking such data pending an inspector general's investigation into the use of national security letters. Verizon did not comply with the community-of-interest request, but only because it doesn't store such information. Presumably other telecom providers -- who did not respond (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/washington/16nsa.html?_r=1&ex=1350273600&en=4245355cd1171983&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin) to Congressional requests for details about their compliance with the FBI -- do.....

These warrant-free disclosures concerned not just potential terrorism, but .... "a range of investigations." .... trusting that the FBI is acting legally:

AT&T and Verizon both argued that the onus should not be on the companies to determine whether the government has lawfully requested customer records. .....

You can read Verizon's letter to the three Democrats here (pdf http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/Verizon_wiretaping_response_101207.pdf). AT&T's is here (pdf http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/ATT%20wiretapping%20response_101207.pdf), and a third, from Qwest, is here (pdf http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/Qwest%20wiretapping%20response_101207.pdf).

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[L. Coyote]

2. Big FISA Developments Coming This Week

ACLU Blog - Oct 15, 2007
Big FISA Developments Coming This Week
http://blog.aclu.org/index.php?/archives/311-Big-FISA-Developments-Coming-This-Week.html


With FISA legislation heading to the floor this week, we wanted to make sure everyone was up to speed on the latest. Last week it was revealed in a story in the Rocky Mountain News (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5719566,00.html) that illegal domestic spy was going on before 9/11. According to the article, Qwest, a telecom company, was originally approached by the National Security Agency to cooperate in its domestic spying program (http://www.aclu.org/nsaspying) way back in February 2001. This is significant for two reasons: First, it reiterates that phone companies had a choice whether or not to violate their customers' privacy, and secondly, it proves that the illegal domestic spying program was going on before 9/11. Interesting that the Bush administration says it needs changes to FISA because of 9/11, but we have to ask: If the illegal program was going on before 9/11, does that mean it didn't prevent the 9/11 attacks from happening? This revelation should really be the nail in the coffin for telecom immunity (http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/32138prs20071010.html). Let's hope Congress pays attention.

In related news, there are also reports flying that Republicans are planning to use one of DNI McConnell's many FISA misrepresentations (http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/31879prs20070920.html) as a basis for passage of the bill. ....

[L. Coyote]

3. NY TIMES: Phone Utilities Won’t Give Details About Eavesdropping

Phone Utilities Won’t Give Details About Eavesdropping
By ERIC LICHTBLAU - Oct 16, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/washington/16nsa.html?_r=2&ex=1350273600&en=4245355cd1171983&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 — The three biggest phone carriers have refused to tell members of Congress what role, if any, they had in the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program. The utilities said it would be illegal to divulge classified information.

“Given the focus of your questions,” a lawyer for AT&T wrote to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a letter released on Monday, “our company essentially finds itself caught in the middle of an oversight dispute between the Congress and the executive relating to government surveillance activities.”

The role of the carriers will be central to the debate in Congress this week over limiting the eavesdropping. The Bush administration has pressed Congress to give the carriers immunity for their cooperation, but House Democrats are balking. ......

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Verizon and the other companies have acknowledged that they routinely comply with what Verizon called “lawful demands” for call records and access to phone lines. In 2006, the Verizon letter said, it received 88,000 such requests, about 34,000 from federal officials and 54,000 from state and local officials. Through September of this year, it received 24,000 federal requests and 37,000 state and local requests.

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[L. Coyote]

4. High-level Verizon exec. is ex-official who long-argued for more surveillance

High-level Verizon exec. is ex-official who long-argued for more surveillance
Brian Beutler - Sep 13, 2006
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Highlevel_Verizon_exec._exofficial_who_has_0913.html


One of the highest-level executives at Verizon Communications—second largest of the three major telecommunications firms originally alleged to be providing the National Security Agency with customer phone records under contract and without a warrant—has strong, decades-long ties to Central Intelligence, Congress and the Department of Justice, RAW STORY has learned.

Additionally, the same official has acted in an advisory capacity to the government as a private citizen for over ten years since leaving office, arguing that restrictions to federal domestic surveillance capabilities be loosened .... one of Verizon's highest-level executives has a long public record of supporting domestic surveillance ....

Verizon Executive Vice President and General Counsel William P. Barr began his career as an analyst for the CIA in the mid 1970s, and advanced to become an assistant legislative counsel for the agency. He has also held a number of other public positions since then, including those of domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and even U.S. Attorney General under George Herbert Walker Bush.

When that position expired after Bill Clinton became President in 1993, Barr went to work as general counsel for GTE, the company that would later merge with Bell Atlantic to form Verizon Communications, where he now serves as executive vice president and general counsel.

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