Home > The Secrecy File > Archives > 2007 > October > 01 > Entry
Stealth campaign to protect telecom from lawsuits?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is demanding in federal court that the Justice Department turn over records about a lobbying campaign waged by the nation’s telecommunications companies to protect the industry from lawsuits for secretly helping the Bush administration with its terrorist surveillance program.
The lawsuit comes as Congress considers giving the industry liability protection as part of its effort to overhaul the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that requires spy agencies to obtain a warrant before they can wiretap phones or read e-mails of suspected spies and terrorists living in America.
The California-based foundation represents AT&T customers in a class-action lawsuit alleging that the the telecom company violated their rights by helping the National Security Agency conduct domestic surveillance without court approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The foundation filed the lawsuit because the Justice Department has refused to respond to multiple requests for information about the lobby campaign filed under the Freedom of Information Act.
“The White House is publicly calling for immunity for the telecoms, while a recent Newsweek article detailed a “secretive lobbying campaign” to block the lawsuits,” said Marcia Hofmann, staff counsel at the foundation. “If there are backroom deals going on at the Department of Justice, then Americans need to know about them now, before Congress passes any law that gets the telecom companies off the hook.”
The lawsuit asks for the immediate disclosure of the telecom industry’s lobbying records, including any documents concerning briefings, discussions, or other contacts Justice Department officials have had with representatives of telecommunications companies. The suit also asks for records of contact between the Justice Department and members of Congress about giving the telecom industry immunity.
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