Wiretapping Lawsuit Against AT&T Dismissed

BalanceOfJudgement writes "A major victory by the federal government was won today when a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit against AT&T for providing phone records to the federal government. From the article: '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'" Not to be confused with the EFF case, this case was filed by the ACLU on behalf of author Studs Terkel and other activists who argued that their constitutional rights had been violated by the actions of AT&T and the NSA.

Comments

EFF is still going strong. Join and donate

[geekotourist]

The EFF's January 2006 Class Action Lawsuit was the first lawsuit over this, and they're still going strong with their major victory last week.

Slashdot readers, more than just about anyone else, understand why the EFF's work is so important. YRO, right?

Got Encryption?

Like that the Supreme Court upheld Betamax?

Like your Broadcast-flag-free gear?

But most Slashdot members haven't joined the EFF. The EFF is fighting organizations that are thousands of times the size of the EFF, and the EFF is winning- that's the sort of thing to make you think Join the EFF today. Someone has to pay for the EFF, and right now that someone isn't 98% of Slashdot.

Yes, really. Slashdot has members in the high-hundred-thousands or low-millions. The EFF has nowhere near even 1/30th or 1/40th of that many members. 39 of 40 Slashdot members are relying on the donations of that 40th member to keep the EFF going. The 'Foundation' in Electronic Frontier Foundation doesn't mean 'trust fund.' It means 'you can make a tax deductable donation and that'll be helpful.'

Did you like that the Communications Decency Actgot killed?

Remember how quickly Sony got slammed for their rootkit?

Remember how long it took for non-technical people to understand how damaging the rootkit was? That's part of why the EFF is so important- they understand why the technical details matter so that they're ready when you call. But a small non-profit member-based organization depends on money from their members to run.

Disclaimer- I support the EFF and I know many of the people there- the 23 people who make the EFF look like it's 10x the size it is.

Re:Why don't you...

[JimDaGeek]

try running for office yourself?

And get arrested? This past presidential election there were actually _4_ presidential candidates. Michael Badnarik the candidate for the Libertarian party, and David Cobb the candidate for the Green party were both arrested when they showed up for the debate. Some democracy, eh? The democrats and republicans want to keep their duopoly going and will use any nasty means possible.