Okay…you saw this coming! "Telecoms face billion dollar wiretap lawsuits: Verizon sued for $50 billion over wiretap program."
Yes, we are a litigious society…the NSA is not immune, is it?
"The legal experts said consumers could sue the phone service providers under communications privacy legislation that dates back to the 1930s. Relevant laws include the Communications Act, first passed in 1934, and a variety of provisions of the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act, including the Stored Communications Act, passed in 1986."
The USA PATRIOT Act widely increased surveillance capabilities without warrants…it changed at least 35 other laws were changed as a result. It will be interesting to see if this comes into play for this, and other, lawsuits, and how.
And there are other lawsuits out there…and more coming…
- Dozens of Lawmakers Back Suit Challenging NSA Program: "As debate renewed over the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, dozens of Democrats in the House of Representatives backed a lawsuit filed in New York that challenges the government’s program of wiretapping without warrants."
- Hide and go seek: "The nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation filed the class action lawsuit in January on behalf of telephone subscribers against AT&T, charging the telecom illegally gave the NSA access to records. Many of the allegations were echoed in the USA Today story last week."
Here’s an interesting discussion of the legalities of the NSA surveillance…
* Online groups reveal details, legalities of NSA surveillance
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