The Telecoms and The Big, Bad Lawsuits

[cal04]

By Paul Kiel
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/telco_damages.php

What's best for the telecoms is best for the nation's security, the administration has argued. And what's best for the telecoms is for all those lawsuits against them for cooperating with the warrantless wiretapping program to go away. After all, "these people are responsible for shareholders."

But while administration officials like the director of national intelligence and attorney general have asserted that the telecoms face the "continued risk of billion-dollar class action suits," it's worth putting that claim in context.

I asked Kurt Opsahl, who represents the Electronic Freedom Foundation in its class action suit against AT&T, to walk me through.

EFF's suit features evidence provided by former AT&T technician Mark Klein, who disclosed two years ago how the company had allowed the NSA to use a small room in San Francisco to capture untold millions of phone and e-mail communications. EFF’s complaint charges that the program violated the First and Fourth Amendments and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and other federal statutes.

[ProgressiveFool]

1. K & R - Interesting point here about how much damages are

We've heard Bush just talk about the phone companies being subject to "billions" in damages from this. He thought he was being impressive throwing around such a big number, but what he did was let the cat out of the bag. If it were only a handful of people caught up in the surveillance, it wouldn't be "billions." That figure means they've been spying on all of us, all this time.