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Verizon Denies Released Phone Records to Government

By Jeralyn, Section War on Terror
Posted on Tue May 16, 2006 at 11:04:03 PM EST
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Following Bell Souths denial Monday, Verizon now has issued a statement disputing the allegation in USA Today that it provided the Government with customer phone records. The New York Times notes a loophole in Verizon's statement:

But the statement by Verizon left open the possibility that MCI, the long-distance carrier it bought in January, did turn over such records -- or that the unit, once absorbed into Verizon, had continued to do so. The company said Verizon had not provided customer records to the National Security Agency "from the time of the 9/11 attacks until just four months ago."

MCI, Sprint and AT&T carry the bulk of the country's long-distance and international calls.

According to a Government official:

A senior government official, granted anonymity to speak for publication about the classified program, confirmed on Friday that the security agency had access to records of most telephone calls in the United States. The official said the call records were used for the limited purpose of identifying regular contacts of "known bad guys." The official would not discuss the details of the program, including the identity of companies involved.

Verizon notes it does not keep records of local calls, which the Times says accounts for 80% of the 463 billion domestic telephone calls made in the U.S.

USA Today is standing by its earlier article.

Background here, here and here.

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    • Verizon Denies Released Phone Records to Government | 6 comments (6 topical)
    Re: Verizon Denies Released Phone Records to Gover (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 17, 2006 at 06:16:29 AM EST
    It would be interesting if this were true, if the leak was a slight exaggeration. It's unfortunate we will probably never know, or if we do, years down the road.

    Re: Verizon Denies Released Phone Records to Gover (none / 0) (#2)
    by Richard Aubrey on Wed May 17, 2006 at 06:58:26 AM EST
    The appetite for breathless, barely-sourced leaks of government wrongdoing is so credulous that the imagination begins to work overtime. If this isn't it, there will come a day when somebody will "leak" an entirely bogus story in order to see the MSM and liberals buy it entire and look foolish.

    Re: Verizon Denies Released Phone Records to Gover (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 17, 2006 at 07:15:21 AM EST
    The appetite for breathless, barely-sourced leaks of government wrongdoing is so credulous that the imagination begins to work overtime.
    I see your point. The worse problem is the those of the Bush Community tries to answer every one of them as if they leaked it themselves. For whatever reason not a day goes by that it has gotten to the point of saying Geez what have we got here The Three Stooges are running the country. George Jr.Cheney,and Rumsfeld.

    Re: Verizon Denies Released Phone Records to Gover (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 17, 2006 at 09:35:46 AM EST
    Think progress has a bit up about an new executive order from Bush. http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/17/new-executive-order/
    By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby assign to you the function of the President under section 13(b)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (15 U.S.C. 78m(b)(3)(A)). In performing such function, you should consult the heads of departments and agencies, as appropriate.
    And what is this regarding? Who is the department head? Negroponte. And so what is Bush giving this authority in regards to?
    (A)With respect to matters concerning the national security of the United States, no duty or liability under paragraph (2) of this subsection shall be imposed upon any person acting in cooperation with the head of any Federal department or agency responsible for such matters if such act in cooperation with such head of a department or agency was done upon the specific, written directive of the head of such department or agency pursuant to Presidential authority to issue such directives. Each directive issued under this paragraph shall set forth the specific facts and circumstances with respect to which the provisions of this paragraph are to be invoked. Each such directive shall, unless renewed in writing, expire one year after the date of issuance.
    Boom. Negroponte was given the power to excuse the Telcom's from lying about this very act, so long as he gives them the order. So the Telcoms can lie about this (notice it took them a few days) and you, as a shareholder, can't do a damn thing about it. They are immune from lawsuits for denying this act.

    Re: Verizon Denies Released Phone Records to Gover (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 17, 2006 at 09:49:26 AM EST
    BTW, notice the Date on that EO? May 5th. Wonder why they issued that order just days before the story broke? Yeah. I wonder too.

    Re: Verizon Denies Released Phone Records to Gover (none / 0) (#6)
    by squeaky on Wed May 17, 2006 at 09:55:34 AM EST
    Unabogie- From Think Progress:
    UPDATE: An earlier version of this post incorrectly referred to the May 5 document as an "executive order." It is a presidential memorandum.
    Verizon Denies Released Phone Records to Government | 6 comments (6 topical)