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Posted on 05/13/2007 6:54:58 PM PDT by BGHater
Verizon is one of the phone companies currently being sued over its alleged disclosure of customer phone records to the NSA. In a response to the court last week, the company asked for the entire consolidated case against it to be thrown out—on free speech grounds.
The response also alleges that the case should be thrown out because even looking into the issue could violate state secrets, of course, but a much longer section of the response tries to make the case that Verizon has a First Amendment right to "petition" the government. "Based on plaintiffs' own allegations, defendants' right to communicate such information to the government is fully protected by the Free Speech and Petition Clauses of the First Amendment," argue Verizon's lawyers.
Essentially, the argument is that turning over truthful information to the government is free speech, and the EFF and ACLU can't do anything about it. In fact, Verizon basically argues that the entire lawsuit is a giant SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) suit, and that the case is an attempt to deter the company from exercising its First Amendment right to turn over customer calling information to government security services.
"Communicating facts to the government is protected petitioning activity," says the response, even when the communication of those facts would normally be illegal or would violate a company's owner promises to its customers. Verizon argues that, if the EFF and other groups have concerns about customer call records, the only proper remedy "is to impose restrictions on the government, not on the speaker's right to communicate."
With all of the phone company cases consolidated into one master case, Verizon is hoping to have the case thrown out on free-speech grounds, putting an end to its legal troubles over the issue. Should it fail, the Bush administration is already preparing to ask Congress for retroactive immunity for all telecommunications companies that assisted the government after September 11, 2001. The government is also fighting hard in court on behalf of the phone companies, filing repeated briefs which claim that "state secrets" trump even the legality of the alleged security programs.
Imagine if Circuit City weren’t allowed to inform the FBI when they found those Fort Dix videos...
Oh, goodness...what 'Lawyerspeak'! I had to pause halfway through to prevent my head from exploding.
This is a stretch, and they know it, a typical case of 'Let's throw a bunch of $hit at it and see what sticks'.
OH, GIVE ME A F’IN BREAK!
You equate some counter guy making an obvious connection between a customer’s nutjob videos and a possible terror plot, with a company simply turning over reams of data about customers who have no connection to any terror plot whatsoever? C’mon, be a complete apologist, why not just argue that we all should simply subject ourselves to a cavity search by Alberto Gonzales RIGHT NOW, and save the government some hassle?
PING!
Because that would be foolish, whereas my point was intelligent.
“Because that would be foolish, whereas my point was intelligent.”
Proving once again you can’t defend your own point...which seemed pretty clearly to be that it’s just peachy if Verizon gives whatever it wants to the feds. Hey, as long as you’re happy with the idea that anything goes. I’ll look forward to JimRob handing out your contact info to them after Hillary or Obama comes knocking.
“You don’t have to be a libertarian to appreciate 4th Amendment protection”
Good to know that there are some conservatives who still think the Constitution is more than a source of Congressional t.p.
I do. I prefer my anus stay well hid and only one way traffic allowed.
Dear Verizon. I used to be a customer of yours. Not any more.
Has this man never heard of the constitutional ban on ex post facto legislation?
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
I wonder if the same argument could be used by ISPs to turn over net-surfing info to the NSA?
I'm sure it would be. I use Tor to browse sites that I wouldn't want everyone else to know I visited. Nothing malicious, but it's just no one's business what websites I go to. I prefer to stay anonymous when I can. FR and a couple of others are the only sites I go to while not being anonymous. If my activity was analyzed, they would just see my FR visits, and my computer connecting to random Tor servers.
Actually, Verizon is correct. Of course, the Justice Department will likely discover that winning the case based on this line of reasoning is a sword that can cut both ways.
This is interesting since we presented Verizon with a FEDERAL COURT ORDER subpoenaing my own phone records recently (to prove that a fax had NOT in fact, come from my phone, and that the supposed fax header was bogus). I was told that they “could not access it.” We were able to prove our case without it, but it makes me wonder about how much info the fed could get even if they gave up the info they have.
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