AT&T ARTICLE: http://www.takebackwashington.com/articles/american-telephone-and-telegraph.html
I am not sure people really understand just what took place in Congress this summer with regard to the NSA illegal wiretapping program. Simply put, AT&T, Verizon, and the other telecom companies that, according to articles in the USA Today and the Washington Post, participated in an ongoing illegal spy network, will now receive retroactive immunity back to 2001 for breaking the law at the Bush Administration's request. HR 6304 is a treasonous and outright assault on our Fourth Amendment right to privacy; yet our Congress voted for this legislation with almost 70 percent of the members having never been briefed on the President's illegal data-mining program to begin with.
United States citizens found out about the seditious actions of the Bush Administration and the Telecoms in a December 2005 article by The New York Times. Surprisingly, it seems, many people missed that article until the administration started spouting off about acquiring immunity for the lawbreaking Telecoms. The administration says they needed the aggressive program to combat terrorism. And, while the Bush Administration and AT&T, specifically, claim they did nothing illegal, one has to wonder why it was that close to a dozen "former and current government officials" were concerned "about the operation's legality and oversight," according to the NY Times article.
"Seeking Congressional approval was also viewed as politically risky because the proposal would be certain to face intense opposition on civil liberties grounds..." states the article. You would think that people who swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic would have realized the illegality of their actions! With the blessings of President Bush, senior administration lawyers, and others, they chose to blatantly attack a fundamental right of being an American; our right to privacy.
USA Today reported in May 2006 that President Bush did authorize the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program and that AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth were "working under contract" soon after the "terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001," according to their source. However, in a Washington Post and a Los Angeles Times article about the insider trading conviction of Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio, we find out that Qwest (one of the only large telecoms to deny the government spy request) was approached about the program in February of 2001, over six months BEFORE the September 11, 2001 tragedy. If, as these articles state, the much-needed illegal program to combat terrorism started PRIOR TO the attacks, why weren't these attacks prevented, and, since they weren't, why was the unlawful program continued?
Outraged at the fact that my family has been a loyal AT&T customer for decades, we decided to take a stand: we are canceling our service. Having had many elongated conversations with the courteous people in Customer Service at AT&T, it has come to our attention just how many people in this huge company, have no idea or understanding of what their employer has done. In talking with many of my own family and friends, it is clear that very few people, in fact, comprehend the egregiousness of the past several years of abuses by the NSA and the telecoms.
While conversing with AT&T about our desire to be released from our contracts, we were told they had no intentions of releasing us from our contracts, because they did nothing wrong, they did not release any of our information and they had read the "stories" on the internet, too. Internet rumor, is it? Then why, I asked, did Congress have to pass HR 6304, giving the telecoms retroactive immunity for the program, if the telecoms did nothing wrong! And you know, the AT&T representative said something that I could actually agree with... "Congress passes laws all the time that are questionable!"
ARTICLE CONTINUED:
http://www.takebackwashington.com/articles/american-telephone-and-telegraph.html
Tags: AT&T boycott congress NSA wiretap data-mine verizon telecom bush spy program
