Forecast for Telecoms-Continued Heat, 100% Chance of Lawsuits(CSM)

[kpete]

For telecoms, a storm of lawsuits awaits
Major phone companies bob and weave on their roles in an NSA surveillance program, as they brace for legal action.
By Peter Grier | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON – The forecast for major US phone companies this spring: continued heat, with a 100 percent chance of gathering lawsuits.
From New York to Kentucky to Texas, lawyers specializing in class-action litigation are lining up to sue phone firms alleged to have handed over customer records to the National Security Agency without a court order. On Monday, for instance, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed suit against AT&T, charging that its actions in the NSA program violated customer privacy.

"Having been blacklisted from working in television during the McCarthy era, I know the harm of government using private corporations to intrude into the lives of innocent Americans," says author Studs Terkel, a Windy City icon and a plaintiff in the ACLU suit.

Despite this rush to the courthouse, it isn't yet clear which phone firms handed over what records to whom. Some companies have denied involvement - while critics note that those denials are carefully worded.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0524/p02s01-usju.html