[NetBehaviour] Newsweek Exposes Telcos' Secret Lobbying Campaign

Ryan Griffis ryan.griffis at gmail.com
Thu Sep 27 00:56:22 CEST 2007


Begin forwarded message:

> * Newsweek Exposes Telcos' Secret Lobbying Campaign
>
> Newsweek's top story this week exposes the desperation of
> the telecommunications companies in light of cases like
> EFF's class-action lawsuit against AT&T, which accuses the
> telecom giant of assisting in the illegal surveillance of
> millions of Americans. The telecoms and the Administration
> are heaping pressure on Congress to get a 'get out of jail
> free' card for their role in helping the government spy on
> their customers:
>
>     "The campaign---which involves some of Washington's most
> prominent lobbying and law firms---has taken on new urgency
> in recent weeks because of fears that a U.S. appellate
> court in San Francisco is poised to rule that the lawsuits
> should be allowed to proceed.
>
>     "If that happens, the telecom companies say, they may
> be forced to terminate their cooperation with the U.S.
> intelligence community---or risk potentially crippling
> damage awards for allegedly turning over personal
> information about their customers to the government without
> a judicial warrant."
>
> The telecoms' worries are telling. Our case is representing
> a class of U.S. residential customers and does not include
> any terrorists - just ordinary folks who use the phone and
> email. The per person penalties are quite reasonable. If
> the telecoms were not spying on millions of innocent
> Americans, there is no way for the liability to become
> "crippling."
>
> Moreover, the Administration obtained prospective immunity
> in the so-called Protect America Act earlier this year. If
> the telecoms are only operating under the extremely broad
> parameters of the PAA, there is no liability reason to stop
> cooperating moving forward. And yet they are so worried
> about liability, they threaten to terminate their
> cooperation.
>
> To achieve in Congress what they could not achieve in
> court, the telecoms are not holding back:
>
>     "Among those coordinating the industry's effort are two
> well-connected capital players who both worked for
> President George H.W. Bush: Verizon general counsel William
> Barr, who served as attorney general under 41, and AT&T
> senior executive vice president James Cicconi, who was the
> elder Bush's deputy chief of staff.
>
>     "Working with them are a battery of major D.C.
> lobbyists and lawyers who are providing 'strategic advice'
> to the companies on the issue, according to sources
> familiar with the campaign who asked not to be identified
> talking about it. Among the players, these sources said:
> powerhouse Republican lobbyists Charlie Black and Wayne
> Berman (who represent AT&T and Verizon, respectively),
> former GOP senator and U.S. ambassador to Germany Dan Coats
> (a lawyer at King & Spaulding who is representing Sprint),
> former Democratic Party strategist and one-time assistant
> secretary of State Tom Donilon (who represents Verizon),
> former deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick (whose law
> firm also represents Verizon) and Brad Berenson, a former
> assistant White House counsel under President George W.
> Bush who now represents AT&T."
>
> Against these lobbyist Goliaths, we need as much grassroots
> support as we can muster. Join EFF, and call Congress today
> and demand that they stop the spying:
> http://www.stopthespying.org
>
> Read Newsweek's report:
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20884696/site/newsweek/page/0/
>
> For more on EFF's case against AT&T:
> http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att
>
> Join EFF now and support us in this critical case:
> http://secure.eff.org/att
>
> For this post:
> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005453.php




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