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US telcos given immunity to aid government eavesdropping
Reported by Dean Wilson on Saturday, December 31 2011 12:02 am
US telecommunications companies have been given legal immunity to help the government eavesdrop on citizens' telephone conversations and emails, raising major concerns over the impact on user privacy.
US telecommunications companies have been given legal immunity to help the government eavesdrop on citizens' telephone conversations and emails, raising major concerns over the impact on user privacy.
A three-judge panel at the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision made by a lower court in relation to a surveillance law passed in 2008 after 33 lawsuits were filed against telecommunications companies like AT&T, Sprint Nextel, Verizon and BellSouth.
The consolidated case was taken by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, which claimed that the firms in question were violating the law and customers' right to privacy. They expressed disappointment at the court's decision.
The judges said they were concerned that allowing litigation would encourage companies not to help the government in lawful intelligence gathering requests, which the government claims it needs to make in other to protect national security.
The decision could have repercussions for similar proposals in other countries throughout the world, which will likely meet with staunch opposition from increasingly privacy aware citizens.
Source: Associated Press
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