posted on Jul, 25 2006 @ 09:32 PM
In what sets a precedent in the NSA spying fiasco a federal judge dismissed charges brought against AT&T by the ACLU. As has happened before the
national security card was waved and the rule to dismiss issued on the premise that confirmation or denial of the allegations would threaten our
intelligence aparatus and give an advantage to our enemies.
news.yahoo.com
"The court is persuaded that requiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed large quantities of telephone records to the federal
government could give adversaries of this country valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities," U.S. District Judge Matthew F.
Kennelly said.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
So I'm trying to wrap my head around this; having AT&T deny or confirm their role with the NSA would violate national security, but the fact that
there are probably hundreds of stories about the accusations brought not only by the ACLU but also the EFF don't do that? Somehow that just doesnt
make sense, the cat is already out of the bag but they still insist on trying to force it back in. I can see how answering yes or no to a very
specific question such as 'are you now or have you ever monitered suspected terrorist zxy12' could give away something important, but not owning up to
shoveling records in bulk to the hungry black hole that is the NSA. I suspect if the ACLU's case has been shot down so easily the EFF's suit will
soon meet the same fate. Most definately a scary situation when the goverment can shut up even the courts, the supposed providers of justice for the
people.