Verizon offers details on records releases

Verizon offers details on records releases
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/...rds/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Verizon Communications says it has provided federal,
state and local law enforcement agencies tens of thousands of
communication and business records relating to customers based on
emergency requests without a court order or administrative subpoena.

In an October 12 letter to members of the House Committee on Energy and
Commerce, a senior Verizon official says that from 2005 through this
September there were 63,700 such requests, and of those, 720 came from
federal authorities.

The company refused to discuss the content of those requests outside the
several examples provided in the letter.

The letter came in response to a request from the panel seeking
information from telecommunication firms about the extent of their
cooperation with government entities, especially concerning the National
Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program that started weeks
after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

"There is an atmosphere of ambiguity which clouds this entire area,"
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, said in an interview with CNN.
"Congress needs to know. The American people need to know what the Bush
administration is doing in the name of the American people to its own
citizens. And right now we don't know the answers."

AT&T and Qwest Communications International also submitted information
to the committee, but Verizon's response was the most detailed. It said
that from 2005 through September it received almost 240,000 requests
from government agencies.

The information authorities sought often came along with a warrant from
the classified intelligence court authorizing a wiretap or through an
administrative subpoena, for example, seeking an Internet address.

The emergency requests, however, were some of the more surprising data
provided. Some of the emergency situations Verizon said it assisted in
included locating the Internet address of a child predator who had
abducted a 13-year-old girl (who was then found due to that information)
and helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents track down a man
using a webcam to broadcast the sexual abuse of a 6-year-old boy.

In its letter to Congress, Verizon said that the emergency requests were
legal and that private companies do not have "all the information
necessary to completely assess the propriety of the government's actions."

"Placing the onus on the provider to determine whether the government is
acting within the scope of its authority would inevitably slow lawful
efforts to protect the public. When an emergency situation arises,
prompt assistance is often needed," wrote Randal Milch, Verizon's senior
vice president and general counsel.

The extent of cooperation between the nation's telecommunication firms
and the government, especially in the counterterrorism arena, has been
of intense interest to civil liberties advocates as well as members of
Congress.

In May 2006, USA Today reported the National Security Agency had been
collecting the records of tens of millions of customers from various
companies. A Qwest executive has said he decided not to participate in
that program because of its questionable legality.

Verizon, AT&T and Qwest are all facing lawsuits about their possible
participation in various government efforts and therefore have said they
cannot comment.

The Justice Department has invoked the "state secrets" privilege to
prevent the firms from confirming or denying possible involvement in
specific intelligence operations.

Wayne Watts, AT&T's senior executive vice president and general counsel,
wrote, "Our company essentially finds itself caught in the middle of an
oversight dispute between the Congress and the executive relating to
government surveillance activities. ... Disputes of this kind need to be
resolved through accommodation between the two political branches of
government."

Verizon, which has about 30 million phone and 70 million wireless
subscribers, also disclosed it had received subpoenas for more detailed
information about whom a person under investigation had called.

Not only had authorities sought information about the person called but
wanted to know whom, in turn, that person then communicated with -- a
"calling circle" or "community of interest."

The company said it did not provide that information because it doesn't
keep such records. Government officials have said there was a standard
that had to be met before making that type of request.

However, in light of an ongoing Justice Department audit concerning
abuses by the FBI of administrative subpoenas and misreporting of their
use, the bureau has said it has temporarily stopped asking for
"community of interest" data.

"It is important to emphasize that it is no longer being used pending
the development of an appropriate oversight and approval policy, was
used infrequently, and was never used for e-mail communications," FBI
spokesman Mike Kortan told CNN last month.