ACLU Launches Nationwide Action Against NSA Snooping On Americans' Phone Calls

ACLU of Vermont Is One of 20 Affiliates Urging State Officials to Investigate Phone Companies’ Cooperation with Spy Agency; FCC Action Also Sought

Responding to reports that phone companies are turning over private details about Americans’ telephone calls to the National Security Agency, the American Civil Liberties Union has launched a nationwide initiative to end illegal government spying.

The ACLU-Vermont and affiliates in 19 other states have filed complaints with public utility commissions or sent letters to state attorneys general and other officials requesting investigations into whether local telecommunications companies allowed the NSA to spy on their customers.

“It’s time for any illegal invasion of privacy, which could affect everyone in this country, to be unveiled,” said Allen Gilbert, executive director of the ACLU of Vermont, which has filed a complaint with the Vermont Public Service Board. “We do not seek to obstruct legitimate law enforcement activities, but we are determined to stand up for the fundamental privacy and due process rights of people whose telephone records may have been divulged without a warrant, notice or consent.”

The ACLU has also sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to reconsider its refusal to investigate reports that at least three major telecommunications companies -- AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon -- cooperated with the NSA in an effort to collect calling information and call patterns on every American.

In its letter, the ACLU refuted the agency’s assertion that the classified nature of NSA activities render it “unable” to investigate potential wrongdoing. The ACLU noted that the government is publicly defending the program, so there is no way that all the details about it are “state secrets” or involve classified information. The letter also pointed out that the government has a recent history of overclassifying information and conveniently claiming that any evidence of embarrassing or illegal actions are “state secrets.”

In addition to the ACLU of Vermont, actions have been filed by ACLU affiliates in Arizona , Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

“We cannot sit by while the government and the phone companies collude in this massive, illegal and fundamentally un-American invasion of our privacy,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. “And unfortunately, we cannot wait for Congress to act. The ACLU is mobilizing its members and supporters nationwide to demand investigations into this shocking breach of trust. And we are asking the FCC to use its authority to uncover the facts about how far the president's illegal spying has gone. The American people want answers.”

When the NSA spying program was initially uncovered last December, the ACLU was one of the first organizations to bring a legal challenge, acting on behalf of a prominent and politically diverse group of journalists, scholars and lawyers. More information on that case is online at www.aclu.org/nsaspying

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