[Infowarrior] - US suing NJ Attorney General to prevent phone co subpoena

[Richard Forno]

US sues New Jersey over phone company subpoenas
Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:58 PM ET
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=200
6-06-16T005812Z_01_N15200507_RTRUKOC_0_US-TELECOMS-EAVESDROPPING-NEWJERSEY.x
ml

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government has sued the New Jersey Attorney
General's office on grounds of security concerns to prevent it from asking
telephone companies if they gave customer call records to the National
Security Agency.

The government wants to stop the disclosure of confidential and sensitive
information, according to the lawsuit filed in Trenton, New Jersey on
Wednesday, a day before phone companies were due to reply to subpoenas
issued by the New Jersey attorney general.

"Compliance with the subpoenas issued by those officers would first place
the carriers in a position of having to confirm or deny the existence of
information that cannot be confirmed or denied without causing exceptionally
grave harm to national security," the lawsuit said.

New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber sent subpoenas to AT&T, Verizon
Communications Inc., Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Qwest
Communications International Inc. on May 17 asking if they had cooperated
with the NSA.

The suit charged that New Jersey's attorney general issued the subpoenas
without proper authorization from the federal government. The lawsuit named
AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Qwest and Cingular, a venture of AT&T and BellSouth,
as defendants as well as Farber and other New Jersey officials.

USA Today newspaper reported last month that AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth
Corp. gave the NSA access to and turned over call data so it could secretly
analyze calling patterns to detect terrorist plots. This provoked a host of
lawsuits and objections from privacy advocates.

BellSouth has denied turning over information to the NSA, and Verizon has
said that it does not provide the government with unfettered access to
customer records.

AT&T has said it helps when asked by the government but only within the law.
A lawyer for Qwest's former Chief executive Joe Nacchio has said that he
refused government requests for information.

David Wald, a spokesperson for the New Jersey attorney general, did not say
what Farber's next step would be.

"We acted to determine whether the rights of citizens in New Jersey have
been violated. We will look at this complaint and respond in court," Wald
said.

AT&T spokesman Walt Sharp said, "The filing by the federal government
underscores the fact that the government and not corporations has
responsibility for and control over national security issues."

Representatives for Verizon and Sprint Nextel were not immediately available
for comment. Cingular and Qwest declined comment saying they do not discuss
national security matters.