The government has decreed that they can't sue the phone companies over illegal spying on Americans, so instead they're about sue the government.
From an Electronic Frontier Foundation press alert just received here:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will file a lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies today on behalf of AT&T customers to stop the illegal, unconstitutional, and ongoing dragnet surveillance of their communications and communications records.
The five individual plaintiffs are also suing President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney's chief of staff David Addington, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and other individuals who ordered or participated in the warrantless domestic surveillance.
A press conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. (Update: More from the press release is at the bottom of this post.)
The ACLU filed its own challenge shortly after Congress voted to grant retroactive immunity to carriers who were being sued for their roles in the illegal spying. President Bush signed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act in July, although cases predating that legislation have continued to wind their way through the courts.
From an Ars Technica story earlier this week:
Attorneys for the Electronic Frontier Foundation had hoped to immediately challenge the constitutionality of the immunity provision of the FISA Amendments Act. While it remains to be seen what approach EFF will take, some legal scholars have argued that retroactively voiding a vested legal claim runs afoul of the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause, which bars the government from depriving people of property without just compensation. Absent the immunity legislation, customers whose private information was compromised could be collectively due billions in damages. In statements to press after the hearing, EFF attorney Cindy Cohn also hinted that there might be a separation of powers argument waiting in the wings.
I wish I could be more confident that these efforts will bring justice to a situation that has to date seen none. But I'm afraid that is extraordinarily unlikely ... at least until there has been a change in administrations.
Update, 1:30: Here's more from the press release:
The lawsuit, Jewel v. NSA, is aimed at ending the NSA's dragnet surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans and holding accountable the government officials who illegally authorized it. Evidence in the case includes undisputed documents provided by former AT&T telecommunications technician Mark Klein showing AT&T has routed copies of Internet traffic to a secret room in San Francisco controlled by the NSA.
That same evidence is central to Hepting v. AT&T, a class-action lawsuit filed by EFF in 2006 to stop the telecom giant's participation in the illegal surveillance program. Earlier this year, Congress passed a law attempting to derail that case by unconstitutionally granting immunity to AT&T and other companies that took part in the dragnet. Hepting v. AT&T is now stalled in federal court while EFF argues with the government over whether the immunity is constitutional and applies in that case -- litigation that is likely to continue well into 2009.
"In addition to suing AT&T, we've now opened a second front in the battle to stop the NSA's illegal surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans and hold personally responsible those who authorized or participated in the spying program," said Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "For years, the NSA has been engaged in a massive and massively illegal fishing expedition through AT&T's domestic networks and databases of customer records. Our goal in this new case against the government, as in our case against AT&T, is to dismantle this dragnet surveillance program as soon as possible."
In addition to suing the government agencies involved in the domestic dragnet, the lawsuit also targets the individuals responsible for creating, authorizing, and implementing the illegal program, including President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
"Demanding personal accountability from President Bush, Vice President Cheney and others responsible for the NSA's dragnet surveillance of ordinary Americans' communications is the best way to guarantee that such blatantly illegal spying will not be authorized in the future," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "Our lawsuit today should sound a clear warning to future occupants of the White House: if you break the law and violate Americans' privacy, there will be consequences."
For the full complaint in Jewel v. NSA:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/jewel/jewel.complaint.pdfFor more on the case:
http://www.eff.org/cases/jewel
More updates to come later as warranted.
(Update 2: Cory Doctorow at makes the point at BoingBoing that EFF cannot do this type of important work without support from people like you.) Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent Buzzblog items. And, if you'd like to receive Buzzblog via e-mail newsletter, here's where to sign up. Palin's private e-mail hacked, posted to the 'Net. Run-amok Verizon robo-caller torments 1,400 customers. RealNetworks touts 'legal' DVD-to-PC copying; movie industry says not so fast Mythbuster busts his own tale of show's cowardly cave-in to RFID heavyweights Doing the Laptop Drive of Shame. Bank of America to support Firefox, finally. This Year's 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries. Top 10 Buzzblog posts for '07: Verizon's there, of course, along with Gates, Wikipedia and the guy who lost a girlfriend to Blackberry's blackout.
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Wow
Unbelievable! Way to go EFF! Electronic Frontier Foundation rules!
JIff
www.anonymize.us.tc
Love
You gotta love em. Woohoo!
What are you hiding?
What are you doing that you need to hide it?
point is if im not doing
point is if im not doing anything wrong, then why do you need to know what im doing?
Please let me
Please let me install a camera in your house. Oh wait? you don't like that? What are you hiding?
I have nothing to hide
I have nothing to hide, but i still dont want th egovernment snooping around my house, my phone convos, my internet records, or anything. Once they have access to those things, i have no privacy, and checks and balances go out the window. The framers of the constitution made the constitution the way they did for a reason. No, they didnt have internet, phones, etc, but they would not be allowed to open mail without a court order AFTER you have gone through the process. and who knows, maybe if i had 3 hours til NYC was going to be nuked and i were jack bower, i would torture someone if i BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT he knew. But as we know very well, we have been wrong many many many many many times when it came to claiming someone was guilty. SO since our system is flawed, lets first prove someone is a threat before we go after them and open their records. It is a matter of ethics, right and wrong, and the american way, that we follow the 4th amendment.
Remember INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY...
...not, "Everyone's guilty and we'll fish around in your inbox for signs of it."
Ultimately, like the 2nd amendment, this comes down to our right to revolution. Even if you like this administration, you cannot let the government have the power to spy on everyone or it will be impossible to overthrow a government you don't like.
You do understand that spying on people without a warrant is illegal and unconstitutional, right? If you want to change the constitution you need to do more than just decide to ignore it. You need to overturn it (I happen to like the Bill of Rights but to each his own).
And if you don't mind strangers listening to your phone calls and reading your email, mind if I have a peek? Or is it only okay if those people work for the government?
Right on
I was always a little leery of suing American companies because they could not stand up to this empirical administration, but suing the administration itself is brilliant.
Stupid
U.S. citizens were not spied on domestically...person to person in the U.S. without warrants.
Citizens who called to other countries were checked out...from locations outside the U.S.
Once the airwaves leave the boundries of the U.S. your calls are going to be monitored, and not by just the U.S Government...a boat load of other Governments are listening too!
This is a stupid, wasteful lawsuit that will only enrich lawyers. Leave the people who are trying to protect us alone...the reality is you have no privacy rights outside of this country, sad to say...
Wheat tells us: "U.S.
Wheat tells us: "U.S. citizens were not spied on domestically...person to person in the U.S. without warrants."
Okay. Prove it.