A Letter to Verizon

[whalerider55]

So, I should expect an IRS audit any day now, I s'poze.
Composed with infor circulating around the blogosphere.




Subject: Request for Information
Date: May 14, 2006 9:01:00 PM EDT
To: [e-mail]

Mr. Varettoni:

As a Verizon customer, I am extraordinarily concerned about the role Verizon may have played in turning over phone records to the NSA in what appears to be a highly illegal "data mining" effort by the government.

I strongly protest any such action on your part, and intend to pursue legal options that are available to me to prevent the continuation of any such project, and to seek legal restitution due for any violation of the Communications Act Section 2703(c) you may have committed.

As for whether or not you have violated the law, Communications Act, Section 2703(c), provides exactly five exceptions that would permit a phone company to disclose to the government the list of calls to or from a subscriber: (i) a warrant; (ii) a court order; (iii) the customer's consent; (iv) for telemarketing enforcement; or (v) by "administrative subpoena."

First, I would like to know whether the records of any call or calls that I made or received as a customer of your service were furnished to the federal government.

Using the criteria of the law, I would then ask did you have a warrant? Did you have a specific court order? You certainly did not have my consent, actual; or implied. Having reported no telemarketing problem to you, I assume that any information provided doesn't meet that criteria, either. As for administrative subpoenas, where a government agency asks for records without court approval, I am aware that the NSA has no administrative subpoena authority, and it is the NSA that reportedly got the phone records.

The penalty for violating the Stored Communications Act is at least $1000 per individual violation. Section 2707 of the Stored Communications Act gives a private right of action to any telephone customer "aggrieved by any violation." If the phone company acted with a "knowing or intentional state of mind," then the customer wins actual harm, attorney's fees, and "in no case shall a person entitled to recover receive less than the sum of $1,000."

In light of the clear awareness that the requests for information violated the law, at least over at your competitor, Qwest, and my own reading of the law, I suspect you will have a hard time pleading ignorance. Stupidity, greed, and a callous disregard for the rights of your customers, perhaps, but not ignorance.

And as for any defense you might mount under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, I would refer you to the recent article revealing the enormity of this crime against your customers in USA Today, which noted that the NSA did not go to the FISA court to get a court order, and that Qwest is quoted as saying that the Attorney General would not certify that the request was lawful under FISA.

Please provide me with the information I have requested, and not some bullshit spam response that tells me everything is OK, and that you have been tenacious guardians of my rights. When I see your response, then I will determine how forthright you have been, and will decide my next steps regarding switching service and joining a class action against you, or filing myself.

You disappoint me.

Yours with all due respect,


Whalerider55

[pk_du]

1. My (less eloquent ) letter to Verizon and its BS response...

Dear Mr. PKDU,

Thank you for your e-mail to Ron Lataille. As a member of the Shareowner Services group, I was asked to respond. We appreciate that the USA Today article and other reports about the possibility that the NSA is able to analyze local call data records is causing concern. Please be assured that Verizon places the highest value on protecting the privacy of our customers. Anything to do with the NSA is of course highly classified, so we can't comment on whether or not the news article causing concern is even accurate. But we can say that, to the extent that we cooperate with government authorities, we are confident that we are complying with all applicable statutes. We appreciate your investment as well as the continuing opportunity to provide you with service.

Sincerely,
Don Weber
Shareowner Services
Office: 908-559-6030
E-mail: [e-mail]


"PKDU" <xxxxyahoo.com>
05/12/2006 11:46 AM

To: RONALD H. LATAILLE/EMPL/NY/Verizon@VZNotes
cc:
Subject: Verizon participation in Government Call-logging & Data-mining



Dear Sir,

I , as an investor and consumer, am greatly disturbed to hear that Verizon has participated in such a program. I am disturbed to see that Verizon has not commented on this activity and , should no acceptable explanation be forthcoming , I will be forced to switch the 250/month that my wife and I spend on Cells/Home/DSL with Verizon to Qwest.

Yours Sincerely,

PKDU