Site Search

Does The Government Have Your Phone Records?

By Mark Matthews

May 26 - KGO - They're going to court, state court this time, accusing the phone company of handing over your private telephone and email records to the government. AT&T and Verizon deny any wrong doing. However, reports of domestic spying continue to surface.

One lawsuit has already been filed in federal court. Now the ACLU is taking AT&T and Verizon to court at the state level. The lawsuits allege the phone companies violated state statutes and the state constitution by illegally turning over phone and internet records to the government.

Everytime you pick up your phone and make a call or click onto the Internet or receive a call from someone else, electronic signals record the phone numbers and web addresses.

Ann Brick, ACLU attorney: "Who you, call how often you call them, who calls you."

Lawyers for the ACLU say phone companies must have a customer's permission or a court order to turn over those records.

Ann Brick: "There has been no customer consent. There has been no legal process."

The phone and Internet records of millions of Americans are at stake. Reports in the New York Times and USA Today say the government is mining a huge data base. Reports that have forced the president to go on the defensive.

President George W. Bush: "Our efforts are focused on links to al Qaeda and their known affiliates."

In San Francisco, inside an AT&T office building, a former AT&T technician says he's seen the secret room where he claims fiber optic signals are being split and sent to secret government computers.

Mark Klein, former AT&T technician: "I believe I have significant information."

Mark Klein has supported his claims with internal phone company documents. These are believed to be copies of those documents supplied by a confidential source to Wired News. The editor in chief of Wired News worries that his reporters may be targeted for wiretaps.

Evan Hansen, Wired News: "We can encrypt our phone calls. We haven't done that yet, but it's something we need to consider."

For their part, the phone companies have consistently denied the accusations.

Marc Bien, AT&T: "The fact is AT&T does not provide phone company information without legal authorization."

Today AT&T issued a statement saying: "we have an obligation to assist law enforcement and other government agencies responsible for protecting the public welfare."

A spokesman for Verizon wrote their response to the ACLU lawsuit is that it is completely without merit.

The ACLU wants to send a message to the government. They're asking people to fill out complaints to the Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.

>> Video On Demand: Build Your Own Newscast