Verizon was only following orders
That good old phone company is back at it again. Whether you call it Ma Bell, C&P telephone or Verizon, they've been hard at work since 9/11 cooperating with the government by giving them details of your phone and internet transactions, even in compliance with illegal or seriously dubious requests.
The latest scoop is revealed in a letter that Verizon sent to Congress explaining that the company sent consumer information to the federal government "hundreds" of times without a court order. Of course, Verizon went on to explain; these were "emergency" cases.
Not only did Verizon provide the details of any given call, they provided a list of everyone that the target had called. But wait...there's more. They also provided a list of everyone that that person who had been called had called. So if a suspected terrorist had called me for some reason (wrong number, political contribution, ?) my entire calling history would have been turned over to the feds. Without a court order. But hey, it was an emergency. How did Verizon know? Because the government told them it was. The telco testified that they never validated the emergency because it wasn't their business to do so.
Oh by the way, the Republican powers-that-be are desperately trying to get the phone companies blanket and unconditional immunity from litigation or prosecution from these kinds of acts. I will not vote for any candidate that supports this bill.
Posted on October 16, 2007
