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June 19, 2006

Phone companies to PUC: Forget records' probe

PROVIDENCE -- The state Division of Public Utilities should forget about investigating whether two of the nation's biggest phone companies illegally gave Rhode Islanders' phone records to the federal government's biggest spying agency, the companies have told the division.

AT&T and Verizon said that if the division does try to investigate, it won't get any evidence because the whole matter is covered by a blanket of national security and the companies won't tell.

If it did get some evidence, it couldn't do anything about it, the companies said. First, that area of law has been preempted by the Federal Communications Commission, which has already said it wouldn't investigate the accusations. Second, it's protected by the government's special national security privilege.

AT&T and Verizon were replying to complaints from the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union that the companies broke a variety of state laws intended to protect telephone customers' privacy.

ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown said the responses were "straight out of George Orwell."

In essence, Brown said, the phone companies are saying, "You shouldn't assume we did anything wrong, and even if we did, it's none of your business, and even if it is, we won't tell you anyway."

-- Journal staff writer Bruce Landis

Posted by maria caporizzo  at 6:56 PM | Permalink

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