Telecom Companies Participated in NSA Spy Ring

The NSA has been conducting illegal wiretapping, and spying procedures in collusion with the Bush Administration, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and MCI. The violation of the both the Constitution, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act with unwarranted surveillances has become a standard operating procedure for the NSA under Attorney General Gonzales.

A $20 billion class action law suit has been filed against Verizon in New York state for its’ participation in the NSA spy ring. The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently filed another class action law suit against AT&T for its participation in illegal wiretapping, and email surveillances with the NSA.

The EFF has noted on their website that:

The lawsuit also alleges that AT&T has given the government unfettered access to its over 300 terabyte "Daytona" database of caller information -- one of the largest databases in the world. Moreover, by opening its network and databases to wholesale surveillance by the NSA, EFF alleges that AT&T has violated the privacy of its customers and the people they call and email, as well as broken longstanding communications privacy laws. The lawsuit also alleges that AT&T continues to assist the government in its secret surveillance of millions of Americans. EFF, on behalf of a nationwide class of AT&T customers, is suing to stop this illegal conduct and hold AT&T responsible for its illegal collaboration in the government's domestic spying program, which has violated the law and damaged the fundamental freedoms of the American public.

The participation of MCI, and Sprint in the illegal NSA spy ring has been observed by telecommunications expert Patrick Radden Keefe in a Feburary 24, 2006 article called The Spy Who Bills US on the Mother Jones site. Keefe also mentions that the NSAs illegal spying scheme has been a dismal failure in terms of stopping terrorism.

The illegal surveillances by the NSA need to be discontinued now. Moreover, telecom companies need to be aware that they can be sued for illegal spying upon American citizens.