Telecoms Facing $50 Billion Lawsuit for Wiretaps

hdtv writes "According to a MarketWatch article, BellSouth Corp and Verizon Telecommunications are facing lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages for the decision to turn over calling records to the government. The damages amount to $1,000 per person, whose records were turned over to Feds. According to the article, 'consumers could sue the phone service providers under communications privacy legislation that dates back to the 1930s. Relevant laws include the Communications Act, first passed in 1934, and a variety of provisions of the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act, including the Stored Communications Act, passed in 1986.'"

Comments

Surprised???

[onid]

This is no surprise, or at least, it shouldn't be. First the patRIOT act eroded the Bill of Rights, and now it is revealed that we've all been wiretapped.
Fodder for some lawyers and a catalyst for change. The damage is done. All the denial in the world won't make that go away.


I see this as a healthy wakeup call. An awakening, perhaps, that seems trivial at first, but could snowball into impeachment hearings. "one word" indeed!

One cynic's prediction.