San Francisco suit alleges
phone records illegally disclosed

By Julia Cheever, Bay City News Service

May 26, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - The American Civil Liberties Union and 17 Californians have sued AT&T Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. in San Francisco Superior Court today over the two companies' alleged transfer of telephone records to the National Security Agency.

The two lawsuits claim the companies are violating the California constitution's guarantee of privacy.

The lawsuits also contend the alleged practice violates a state public utility law that bars the release of call records without a subscriber's permission.

Nicole Ozer, the technology and civil liberties director for the ACLU of Northern California, said today, "This is much more than data mining."

Ozer charged, "This has been the systematic strip-mining of the private calls of millions of innocent Americans."

A separate lawsuit based on the federal constitution and federal law is pending against AT&T in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. AT&T and Verizon have previously declined to give any details about any alleged collaboration with the National Security Agency.

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