[Infowarrior] - EFF: Judge Denies Complete Stay in AT&T Surveillance Case

[Richard Forno]

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* Judge Denies Complete Stay in AT&T Surveillance Case

Government and AT&T Cannot Freeze Proceedings During Appeal

San Francisco - A federal judge yesterday ruled that the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) can go forward with
elements of its class action lawsuit against AT&T for
collaborating with the government on illegal spying in
ordinary Americans -- despite the government and AT&T's
request to freeze proceedings during an appeal.

In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker
opened the door to beginning the discovery process,
allowing EFF to ask "limited and targeted" questions as
long as those questions do not overlap with the issues
under consideration in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals.

"The government wanted to put this case in the deep
freeze," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. "Instead, the
court has invited us to move forward with some targeted
questions. We're glad to accept that invitation, which will
allow progress while respecting the government's national
security concerns."

Judge Walker also refused to implement a blanket stay on
the other telecommunications surveillance cases transferred
to his court. He ruled that unless the parties stipulate to
a stay, then "defendants will answer or otherwise respond
to the complaint" by March 29. Earlier yesterday, Judge
Walker denied requests from media groups to unseal critical
evidence in the AT&T case.

"We're disappointed that the court did not choose to unseal
all of the documents that include or refer to the evidence
presented by Mark Klein and our expert, J. Scott Marcus.
The government has already agreed that the evidence is
neither classified nor a state secret, and is only being
held under seal because of AT&T's weak trade secrecy
claims," said Cindy Cohn, EFF's Legal Director. "Given that
the privacy of millions of Americans is at stake, we
strongly believe that the public would benefit from seeing
this evidence for themselves."

Judge Walker did grant the media groups' request to
intervene, and said he might revisit the unsealing issue at
a later date.

For Judge Walker's full order:
<http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/stayorder220.pdf>

For more on EFF's case against AT&T:
<http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/>

For this release:
<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2007_02.php#005130>