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October 16, 2007
Verizon Says It Handed Over Customer Data Hundreds of Times
“Just in time for this week’s Senate intelligence committee’s fight over telecom immunity: Verizon disclosed to three Democratic lawmakers that it turned over subscriber information, such as IP addresses or phone records, to the FBI in emergency situations more than 720 times. In making such warrant-free demands of Verizon — and surely other telecommunications companies — the FBI wanted not just information on whom the target of its investigation contacted, but also the people whom the contacts contacted.
“That’s called ‘community of interest’ information. Last month, The New York Times reported that the FBI has suspended seeking such data pending an inspector general’s investigation into the use of national security letters. Verizon did not comply with the community-of-interest request, but only because it doesn’t store such information. Presumably other telecom providers — who did not respond to Congressional requests for details about their compliance with the FBI — do. (Verizon would only discuss what it disclosed to the FBI, not anything having to do with warrantless NSA surveillance. And the relationship between those agencies’ surveillance programs is still a big unknown.) Quick, has anyone you know emailed anyone who’s called Pakistan lately?”
I’m beginning to think we can add “national security” to that list that ends with sausage and politics. I don’t want to know what’s going on, but if we don’t collectively look we’ll be a lot more unhappy with the results.
Posted by mhall at 10:47 PM | Add Comment
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