[Infowarrior] - FCC chief calls for probe of phone cos.

[Richard Forno]

FCC chief calls for probe of phone cos.
DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
Associated Press
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14589716.htm

WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the
telephone industry, should open an investigation into whether the nation's
phone companies broke the law by turning over millions of calling records to
the government, an FCC commissioner says.

The National Security Agency has been collecting records of calls made in
the U.S. by ordinary Americans as part of its anti-terrorism efforts,
according to USA Today. The newspaper story followed reports that the NSA
has been conducting eavesdropping on the electronic communications of
suspected al-Qaida members and their contacts in the U.S. without warrants.

"There is no doubt that protecting the security of the American people is
our government's No. 1 responsibility," Commissioner Michael J. Copps, a
Democrat, said in a statement Monday. "But in a digital age where
collecting, distributing and manipulating consumers' personal information is
as easy as a click of a button, the privacy of our citizens must still
matter."

AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. began turning
over tens of millions of phone records to the NSA after the spy agency
requested the records shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
USA Today reported last week. The paper said the NSA is building a massive
call databank to analyze calling patterns.

The telecommunications company Qwest said it refused to cooperate with the
NSA after deciding that doing so would violate privacy law.

On Monday, Atlanta-based BellSouth issued a statement that an internal
review had "confirmed no such contract exists and we have not provided bulk
customer calling records to the NSA." Verizon has refused to confirm or deny
whether it has participated in the program.

The New York Times reported in December that the NSA was eavesdropping on
electronic communications involving suspected al-Qaida members abroad and
associates in the U.S. Critics of the program have questioned whether the
NSA has stepped outside the law by not seeking court-ordered warrants.

President Bush, while not discussing the details of any NSA programs
directed at detecting terrorism plots, has repeatedly assured Americans that
the initiatives he authorizes are within the law and the Constitution and
are not violating the privacy of ordinary Americans.

When the NSA developed the programs it was under the direction of Air Force
Gen. Michael Hayden, now Bush's choice to replace Porter Goss as head of the
CIA. The eavesdropping program and the phone call databank are likely to be
the focus of questions Thursday when the Senate Intelligence Committee
begins Hayden's confirmation hearings.

Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the Senate
Judiciary Committee, has said he wants to gather testimony from phone
company representatives about how they work with the NSA.

An FCC investigation, if undertaken, would be the second attempt this year
by the government to explore an aspect of an NSA program. The Justice
Department sought to investigate the role of its lawyers in the warrantless
eavesdropping program, but it ended the inquiry last week because its
lawyers were denied security clearances.

ON THE NET

Federal Communications Commission: http://www.fcc.gov