Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders: Letter Details Government Requests

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Washington Post, Page One

By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 16, 2007; Page A01

Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005.

The company said it does not determine the requests' legality or necessity because to do so would slow efforts to save lives in criminal investigations.

In an Oct. 12 letter replying to Democratic lawmakers, Verizon offered a rare glimpse into the way telecommunications companies cooperate with government requests for information on U.S. citizens.

Verizon also disclosed that the FBI, using administrative subpoenas, sought information identifying not just a person making a call, but all the people that customer called, as well as the people those people called. Verizon does not keep data on this "two-generation community of interest" for customers, but the request highlights the broad reach of the government's quest for data.

The admissions, in a letter from Verizon to three Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee investigating the carriers' participation in government surveillance programs, demonstrated the willingness of telecom companies to comply with government requests for data, even, at times, without traditional legal supporting documents. The committee members also received letters from AT&T and Qwest Communications International, but those letters did not provide details on customer data given to the government....

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101501857.html?hpid=topnews

[lligrd]

1. Thanks A Lot Verizon

Maybe you should just send my bill to the government as well since they seem to be able to quicker service from you on my line than I can.

[Kagemusha]

2. The thing that gets me is the talk of billions of $ in classified telecom contracts.

In other words, one way or another, these companies were accepting money in order to permit unfettered, illegal access to telecom networks contrary to the well known laws of Congress on the matter. So they weren't just acting like concerned citizens. They were well paid for their trouble.

[C_U_L8R]

3. who decides what constitutes an "emergency"

some bureaucrat ??
or worse, some republican bureaucrat?
geesh
they might do better to eavesdrop on airport bathrooms.
tappity tap tap

[Supersedeas]

18. Verizon's admits that legal issues would 'slow down efforts to save lives' -- obviously Verizon is

in the business of doing criminal investigations first and honoring their (privacy) contracts with customers somewhere down the line.

[Up2Late]

4. And the guy at QWest who didn't, what did he get for saying no!?!

An investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission and six years in prison!!!

<http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2002/07/15/story6.html>

<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19996449/>

Ex-Qwest CEO given six years in prison

Nacchio is ordered to forfeit $52 million, pay a $19 million fine

Updated: 3:48 p.m. ET July 27, 2007

DENVER - Former Qwest Communications chief executive Joe Nacchio was sentenced to six years in prison Friday for making $52 million in illegal stock sales while a multibillion-dollar accounting scandal brought the telecommunications company to the brink of bankruptcy.

U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham also ordered Nacchio to forfeit the $52 million within 15 days, imposed a maximum $19 million fine and ordered him to serve two years’ probation after serving his sentence. The judge denied Nacchio’s request to be granted bail while he appeals his conviction. He ordered Nacchio to report to authorities within 15 days once a federal prison is chosen for him.

Nacchio, 58, a former AT&T executive, is among the latest in a string of former top-level executives to be convicted in corporate fraud scandals targeted by a government task force established in 2002.

He was convicted in April of making the stock sales at a time when he knew Qwest faced financial risk but didn’t tell investors. He had faced a maximum term of seven years, three months in prison....

(more at link) <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19996449/>

[Up2Late]

5. Qwest CEO Not Alone in Alleging NSA Started Domestic Phone Record Program 7 Months Before 9/11

(For anyone who missed this)

Qwest CEO Not Alone in Alleging NSA Started Domestic Phone Record Program 7 Months Before 9/11

By Ryan Singel
October 12, 2007 | 4:23:55 PM Categories: NSA, Surveillance

Startling statements from former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio's defense documents alleging the National Security Agency began building a massive call records database seven months before 9/11 aren't the only accusations that the controversial program predated the attacks of 9/11.

According to court documents unveiled this week, former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio clearly wanted to argue in court that the NSA retaliated against his company after he turned down a NSA request on February 27, 2001 that he thought was illegal. Nacchio's attorney issued a carefully worded statement in 2006, saying that Nacchio had turned down the NSA's repeated requests for customer call records. The statement says that Nacchio was asked for the records in the fall of 2001, but doesn't say he was "first asked" then.

And in May 2006, a lawsuit filed against Verizon for allegedly turning over call records to the NSA alleged that AT&T began building a spying facility for the NSA just days after President Bush was inaugurated. That lawsuit is one of 50 that were consolidated and moved to a San Francisco federal district court, where the suits sit in limbo waiting for the 9th Circuit Appeals court to decide whether the suits can proceed without endangering national security....

(more at link) <http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/qwest-ceo-not-a.html>

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Thanks for your links, Up2Late! nt

[Up2Late]

8. No problem, here's another good one that was linked at the bottom of the Wired article

NSA Domestic Surveillance Began 7 Months Before 9/11, Convicted Qwest CEO Claims

By Ryan Singel Email
October 11, 2007 | 6:20:59 PM Categories: NSA

Did the NSA's massive call records database program pre-date the terrorist attacks of 9/11?

That startling allegation is in court documents released this week which show that former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio -- the head of the only company known to have turned down the NSA's requests for Americans' phone records -- tried, unsuccessfully, to argue just that in his defense against insider trading charges.

Nacchio was sentenced to 6 years in prison in 2007 after being found guilty of illegally selling shares based on insider information that the company's fortunes were declining. Nacchio unsuccessfully attempted to defend himself by arguing that he actually expected Qwest's 2001 earnings to be higher because of secret NSA contracts, which, he contends, were denied by the NSA after he declined in a February 27, 2001 meeting to give the NSA customer calling records, court documents released this week show.

AT&T, Verizon and Bellsouth all agreed to turn over call records to an NSA database, according to reporting in the USA Today in 2006. At that time, Nacchio's lawyer publicly stated that Nacchio declined to participate until served with a proper legal order....

(more at link) <http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/nsa-asked-for-p.html#previouspost>

[Wapsie B]

20. I commend Qwest for having the guts to say no to the BFEE.

Just an observation here, I hope Mr. Nacchio is able to serve his sentence in complete safety. The Godfather (GHWB) doesn't take kindly to those who oppose him or his family.

[Trillo]

6. K & R - Can these two partial paragraphs be reconciled?

From January 2005 to September 2007, Verizon provided data to federal authorities on an emergency basis 720 times, it said in the letter.
-snip-
In its letter, Verizon said that on occasion, it receives requests without correct authorizations. For instance, it said, it once received a request for stored voice mail without a warrant. The company does not respond until proper authorization is received, it said.

At the end of the story the companies' attorneys claim they need no additional immunity. If data they've turned over requires no immunity above what they already have, then why has Bush been so adamant that telecoms must have it? Is there some implied way that if Congress gives telecoms more immunity, those in the government making illegal requests also get some kind of derivative immunity?

[lvx35]

13. Wow, really good points. nt

[aquart]

9. So how many lives did they save? One? Any?

[SlingBlade]

10. No wonder brother Bush

Is pushing so hard to get the Corporate get out of jail free bill passed.

They know what they did, We know what they did.
I want them fined and I want to see execs go to jail, Nothing short of that will
satisfy me and that is what I wrote to my representatives.

What kind of fine do you levy for walking on the constitution of the United States ?
Perhaps we could lie and say we also saw them burning a flag, That way something might get done.

[Up2Late]

11. What's that you say? Constitution of the United States? Check this one out!

I just found this one! :crazy:

Verizon: Suing Us For Turning Over Customer Call Records Violates Our Free Speech Rights

By Ryan Singel Email
May 04, 2007 | 5:59:00 AM Categories: Censorship

Verizon is seeking to have a lawsuit filed against it for allegedly illegally helping the government eavesdrop on its customers and data mine their call records dismissed. The company argues that the suit infringes on the company's First Amendment rights.

The lawsuit is one of five joint suits against the nation's largest telecoms for their alleged participation in massive government spying programs, including the one that listened in without warrants on certain international phone calls of Americans. Last week, the government intervened to have the Verizon suit dismissed on the grounds that the lawsuit would reveal information that put the country at risk.

Verizon additionally argues that the Electronic Communications Protection Act or ECPA which largely prohibits telecoms from revealing sensitive customer data without legal process, is unconstitutional....

(More at link) <http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/05/verizon_suing_u.html#previouspost>

[SlingBlade]

14. What a crock

Welcome to BushWorld.
And how many DLC Dem’s back up this corporate whore I wonder.
What a disgusting manipulation..

Patriots everywhere should boycott their asses.

[rodeodance]

12. Conyer's letter to MM

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Conyer's letter to MM
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:06:52 -0500


The Honorable Michael “Mike” McConnell
Director of National Intelligence
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Washington, DC 20511

Honorable Ken Wainstein
Asst. Attorney General for National Security
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Director McConnell and Mr. Wainstein:

I am writing because of disturbing revelations over the past several days about warrantless Administration surveillance activities that allegedly occurred months before 9/11, and about claims that a company that did not participate in potentially unlawful surveillance activities may have been subject to retaliation by the Administration, including federal prosecution. According to news reports and papers filed with a federal court in Denver, as early as February, 2001, the NSA asked Qwest Communications and other telecommunications companies for some form of warrantless access to records concerning Americans’ private communications. Although the precise nature and scope of the intercepted communications has not been revealed, one report suggests that it may have involved “monitoring long distance calls and Internet transmissions and other digital information.” S. Shane, “Former Phone Chief Says Spy Agency Sought Surveillance Help Before 9/11,” New York Times (Oct. 14, 2007). Although Qwest apparently refused the request, which a former Qwest executive claims led to retaliation against him and his company, it is unknown what access to confidential customer information was provided by other telecommunications companies.

I appreciated your testimony several weeks ago on behalf of the Administration in connection with proposed improvements to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). It is crucial, however, that Congress be fully informed of all the Administration’s surveillance activities involving telecommunications companies, particularly in light of the Administration’s request that retroactive immunity from liability be provided to these companies and Administration officials. Accordingly, I ask that you provide the Committee with an immediate briefing on the facts behind these recent revelations, and that you then provide us with any documents concerning the nature and scope of these pre-9/11 activities and the legal basis for conducting them.

Please contact the Judiciary Committee office, 2138 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515 (Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]) as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

[DeepModem Mom]

15. Thanks, rodeodance! nt

[TechBear_Seattle]

16. Conspiracy to violate Constitutional rights?

How can this possibly NOT be a prosecutable offense? As a Veriozon customer, I want to sue the asses off of the entire corporate board, individually and corporately.

[Don1]

22. The USA PATRIOT Act

condones a lot of this. See section 212 and its reauthorization in 2005. I will write a separate thread about this but people will not like what I have to say.

ETA: here is a link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3614095

[TechBear_Seattle]

24. So when can we arrest the Congresscritters who authorized this and charge them with treason?

At the very least, the Supreme Court should be impeached for gross malfeasance for not putting a stop to this. But O F C O U R S E nothing will be done at all by the traitors in the Senate, House of Representatives, White House and Supreme Court.

My god, but I am ashamed to be an American.

[ProudDad]

34. Dump VERIZON, DUMP AT&T

Switch to Working Assets:

http://www.workingassetswireless.com/

[lonestarnot]

17. Great an admission. Action on admission, not so great.

[femrap]

19. I thought criminal folks who were

planning a big felony used couriers to communicate...not emails nor phones.
Shouldn't the gov't be spending their time on investigating this?

I'd bet that everyone who is involved with M*ve*n has been properly noted by the gov't.

Will this cabal ever cede power?

[Hestia]

21. From what I have heard on the internets street corner, and

quoting this sentence:

Verizon also disclosed that the FBI, using administrative subpoenas, sought information identifying not just a person making a call, but all the people that customer called, as well as the people those people called.

This is why we are being surveilled - they want to get social networks on who we know, call, hang out with, email, etc., and who they are in contact with. It isn't just about us as individuals...

[frylock]

23. can you hear me now?

fuck you, verizon!

[On the Road]

25. Now I'm Disgusted

I was willing to give Verizon a break as long as they were compelled to provide information by law, even though the law might have been unconstitutional. Now they're really saying they have no defense.

The scenario of an "incoming call from a known terrorist suspect overseas" might be arguable. This is not. At all. A two-stage fishing expedition with no legal basis for either the government or the telcos.

I just hope this period of history is repudiated and like McCarthy era, is remembered as a time of national insanity.

[ejbr]

26. Verizon must be relieved!!

The Democratic traitors, who refuse to impeach the Bush junta who continue to abuse their power and the American people, will have to give them cover in order to continue to claim that there are more important matters than saving the republic as we know it.

[sabra]

27. Phone Companies Muzzled On Eavesdropping

Source: CBS News/AP

White House Forbids Telecom Companies From Telling Congress About Surveillance Activity

(AP) Three telecommunications companies have declined to tell Congress whether they gave U.S. intelligence agencies access to Americans' phone and computer records without court orders, citing White House objections and national security.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell "formally invoked the state secrets privilege to prevent AT&T from either confirming or denying" any details about intelligence programs, AT&T general counsel Wayne Watts wrote in a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Qwest and Verizon also declined to answer, saying the federal government has prohibited them from providing information, discussing or referring to any classified intelligence activities.

"Our company essentially finds itself caught in the middle of an oversight dispute between the Congress and the executive relating to government surveillance activities," Watts wrote.


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/16/national/main3371566.shtml

[TechBear_Seattle]

28. The proper response would have been, "Obey the Constitution." But no....

"You are forbidden to testify to Congress that you are complicit with our treason against the Constitution."

:banghead:

I have $500 saying that Congress will wring its hands, moan, and do absolutely NOTHING.

[tom_paine]

29. Yep. Nothing. And the totalitarian darkness advances a little further...

n/t

[kimmylavin]

30. Remember?

Remember when they started making all these infringements on privacy, right after September 11th?
They said they were doing it in the name of national security, and if anyone protested, they were asked/told, "Well, what do you care, if you have nothing to hide?"

Hope that justification comes back to bite them in the ass.

[TechBear_Seattle]

31. Remember even further back, to the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s....

Back when the Soviet Union used the "You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide" routine, and the Republican Party went out of their way to assert that such claims are gross violations of basic human freedoms.

It is truly pathetic that the Junta does the exact same things the GOP once roundly condemned the USSR for doing, and then uses the exact same excuses as the USSR for doing them.

Is it fascism yet?

[kath]

32. Actually, one of the stories that I read yesterday said that warrantless spying was going on months

BEFORE Sept. 11. This was on a thread here at DU...

[ProudDad]

35. Thise FUCKS always go where their profit lies... (n/t)

[ProudDad]

33. That's why I DUMPED VERIZON

Then some "vice president" flack fuck tried to tell me on the phone that they didn't do it...

Liers...

Dump all of these fascist assholes and get your wireless phone through Working Assets:

http://www.workingassetswireless.com/

[ProudDad]

36. DUMP VERIZON, DUMP AT&T, DUMP all of them

Go with Working Assets!!!

http://www.workingassetswireless.com/

"Make every call a call for change. Since 1985, we’ve raised over $50 million to advance progressive causes that matter most to you. How do we do it? By donating 1% of your charges to causes like the environment, reproductive rights and voter education. And through your phone, e-mail and even your bill, we make it easy to make activism a part of your everyday life."