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

[unhappycamper]

Verizon provided data to Feds 720 times without court order or determining its legality
Nick Juliano
Published: Tuesday October 16, 2007


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.


Rest of article at: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Verizon_intercepted_emergency_data_without_court_1016.html

[LakeSamish706]

1. Yeah but nothing is going to be done about it anyway, cause who...

would do anything? We don't have anyone that will seriously tackle this problem and the Bush Administration knows it.

[leveymg]

2. Yes, but how many in the four years BEFORE January 2005?

This is a classic limited hangout.

Limited hangout - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A limited hangout is a form of deception, misdirection, or coverup often associated with intelligence agencies involving a release or "mea culpa" type of ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_hangout - 21k - Similar pages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_hangout

[bullimiami]

3. and everyone of those is obviously entirely within the us.

so all illegal and utterly destructive to any case brought using them.