<Paul K. McMasters ..
Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center ..
pmcmasters@freedomforum.org >
Sunday, August 27, 2006
.. In Maine on Aug. 21, federal prosecutors went to court to keep state utility regulators and Verizon from revealing information about whether the company violated laws protecting customer calling data and other confidential records by participating in the NSA's domestic-surveillance program. The U.S. Justice Department has filed similar suits in Missouri and New Jersey.
Last month, a federal judge in California turned back the government's efforts to invoke the state-secrets privilege to dismiss a lawsuit in which the Electronic Frontier Foundation charged that AT&T was cooperating with the NSA in spying on the domestic and international communications of Americans.
In all, more than 17 class-action lawsuits from 13 different federal court districts alleging telecommunications companies' complicity in government eavesdropping on private communications have been consolidated in the court of U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco ..
If security trumps freedom, then the question arises as just what it is that we are protecting. Freedom of speech, even dissent, is not just at the core of our freedom, it is an essential component of security ..
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/191322/3/