Unless you don't watch the news, read the paper, or listen to the news on the radio... wait - that's most Americans. Hmm, I suppose I should fill you in first.
The government is spying on you. No, I'm not a crack pot. Google "
NSA Domestic Spying Program" and see for yourself. I'll wait. Back? Good, now let's go on...
Some groups are suing the government. After all, we have a 4th amendment which says... well it says Bush can't do what he did. Tricky thing that, he's a sitting president with his party in control of the congress. Odds of an investigation? Zero.
In come my favorite group of lawyers (and yes, I mean that), the
EFF. These guys rock, and after
rocking Sony they figure to take a swing at this lack of privacy issue. Being smarter than the average bear, they are
suing AT&T, not the government.
It breaks down like this: AT&T operates under laws passed by the congress. Some of these laws tell them they have to honor the privacy of their customers. If someone comes asking to see information about their customers, they need to make sure it's been approved. "Bush said so" is not approval, a search warrant is. Failure to do so could mean $21,000 per person whose information was given out (that's stated in these laws too).
Aside from AT&T, what does this mean for the big picture? That companies are not above the law, and "following orders" doesn't count. That other companies who have let the government invade our privacy (I'm looking at you
Microsoft and Yahoo) have taken a great financial risk. Even if
Google looses and is ordered to give up it's data, they will be in a far better place than AT&T.
At any rate, I'm sure Coke is happy to
sit out this round.
Posted By Mike On Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Filed under politics |
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