🚀 go-pugleaf

Alan Smithee wrote:
> Why Verizon gives up calling records to feds
> Telecom cites 'emergency' nature of requests
> By Ellen Nakashima
> Washington Post
> Article Launched: 10/16/2007 01:32:52 AM PDT
> 
> 
> WASHINGTON - Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest
> telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided
> customers' telephone records to federal authorities without court
> orders hundreds of times since 2005.
> 
> The company said it does not determine the emergency 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 Americans.
> 
> Verizon also disclosed that the FBI, using administrative subpoenas,
> sought information identifying not just a person making a call, but
> also all the people that customer called, as well as the people those
> people called. Verizon does not keep data on this "two-generation
> community of interest" for customers, but the request highlights the
> broad reach of the government's quest for data.

Information described above is classified as "Title 2" data.


> 
> House committee told 
> 
> The admissions, in a letter from Verizon to three Democrats on the
> House Energy and Commerce Committee investigating the carriers'
> participation in government surveillance programs, demonstrated the
> willingness of telecom companies to comply with government requests
> for data, even, at times, without traditional legal supporting
> documents. The committee members also received letters from AT&T and 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Advertisement
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Qwest Communications International, but those letters did not provide
> details on customer data given to the government.
> From January 2005 to September 2007, Verizon provided data to federal
> authorities on an emergency basis 720 times, it said in the letter.
> The records included Internet protocol addresses, as well as phone
> data. In that period, Verizon turned over information a total of
> 94,000 times to federal authorities armed with a subpoena or court
> order, the letter said. The information was used for a range of
> criminal investigations, including kidnapping and child-predator cases
> and counter-terrorism investigations.

Telecom companies aren't aware of the reason of the request, so they 
won't know.

> 
> Limits on their role
> 
> Verizon and AT&T said it was not their role to second-guess the
> legitimacy of emergency government requests.


Without a valid warrant, someone should be raising the BS flag.  I know 
people who have thrown a flag, and were commended for keeping their 
company out of legal hot water.


> 
> The letters were released Monday by the lawmakers as Congress debates
> whether to grant telecom carriers immunity in cases where they are
> sued for disclosing customers' phone records and other data to the
> government, even if they did not have court authorization. House
> Democrats have said they cannot contemplate such immunity without
> first understanding the nature of the carriers' cooperation with the
> government.
> 
> "The responses from these telecommunications companies highlight the
> need of Congress to continue pressing the Bush administration for
> answers. The water is as murky as ever on this issue, and it's past
> time for the administration to come clean," said Rep. Edward Markey,
> D-Mass., who launched the investigation with panel Chairman John
> Dingell, D-Mich., and Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.
> 
> Congressional Democrats have been largely stymied in their efforts to
> have the Bush administration disclose the scope and nature of it
> surveillance and data-gathering efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001,
> attacks. Revelations have come through press reports, advocacy groups'
> Freedom of Information Act lawsuits and Justice Department inspector
> general reports.
> 
> Verizon's 13-page letter indicated that the requests went even further
> than previously known. Verizon said it has received FBI administrative
> subpoenas called national security letters requesting data that would
> "identify a calling circle" for subscribers' telephone numbers,
> including people contacted by the people contacted by the subscriber.
> Verizon said it does not keep such information.
> 
> "The privacy concerns are exponential each generation you go away from
> the suspect's number," said Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney with
> the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "This shows that further
> investigation by Congress and the inspector general is critical."
> 
> Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless stirred up controversy with a letter it
> sent to customers recently telling them that it would begin sharing
> information from their calling records with its "affiliates, agents
> and parent companies."
> 
> Opt-out option
> 
> Brian Ashby, associate general counsel for Verizon, on Monday said the
> company was seeking to share that information only among Verizon
> divisions, so it can better sell new products to existing customers.
> In the mailing, Verizon gave customers 30 days to "opt out" if they
> did not want their information shared.
> 
> Analysts and consumer advocates suggest the company also may be
> interested in gathering information to tailor the advertising it
> displays on cell phone screens. 
> 
> The concern about the mailing spread quickly online and resulted in
> the company clarifying its position late Monday.
> 
> Verizon Wireless's more than 60 million customers can opt out of
> sharing their information by calling (800) 333-9956. But if they do
> not do so within 30 days, Verizon said it would assume they want their
> information shared.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_7190976?nclick_check=1
> 
> 
> 


-- 
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'