The Wash Post LIES AGAIN - claims the telcos aren't liable in NSA spying:

[Nothing Without Hope]

The craven Washington Post never stops shilling for their masters. We have already discussed how their "poll" purporting to show that surprisingly large majorities of Americans fully support the massive NSA domestic spying program and providing the basis of an immediate and relentless pro-Bush, pro-Telco PR campaign, is OBVIOUSLY BOGUS:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1174702
thread title (5-12-06 GD): Bogus WaPo/ABC poll on Americans' "support" of NSA spying-FIGHT THIS SCAM!

Now remember this important fact, discovered by a Firedoglake reader: that bogus ABC/WaPo poll discussed in the was done by a company whose primary clients are TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS - Telcos (excerpt and link given in Reply #23 of the "Bogus WaPo/ABC poll" DU thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1174702#1175731). That's highly relevant to understanding a later lie being pushed by the Washington Post and explained at Think Progress:

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/13/falkenrath-wrong

Telco Liability: Falkenrath Gets It Wrong

5-13-06, posted by Judd 11:47am

On Thursday, ThinkProgress argued that the telcos could be liable for tens of billions of dollars (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/11/telcos-liable/) for turning over phone records to the government in violation of the Stored Communications Act. In this morning’s New York Times, law professor Orrin Kerr (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/13/falkenrath-wrong/%3Cbr%20/%3Ehttp://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/13/washington/13phone.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1) agrees:

Orin Kerr, a former federal prosecutor and assistant professor at George Washington University, said his reading of the relevant statutes put the phone companies at risk for at least $1,000 per person whose records they disclosed without a court order.

“This is not a happy day for the general counsels” of the phone companies, he said. “If you have a class action involving 10 million Americans, that’s 10 million times $1,000 — that’s 10 billion.”

In today’s Washington Post, Richard A. Falkenrath – former deputy assistant to President Bush – takes the opposite view. Here’s Falkenrath’s argument (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/12/AR2006051201656.html):

The three companies reported to have supplied telephone records to the NSA also appear to be acting lawfully….{T}he Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 explicitly permits telecommunications companies to provide customer records to the government if the government asks for them.

Actually, that’s false. The relevant portion of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act – known as the Stored Communications Act – explicitly prohibits voluntary or required disclosure of phone records to the government with several limited exceptions. {See 18 U.S.C. 2702-03 (http://www.cybercrime.gov/ECPA2701_2712.htm)} As we explained here (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/11/telcos-liable/) and here (http://thinkprogress.org/answers-telco/) none of those exceptions apply.

It’s clear from his column that Falkenrath is obviously a huge fan of Michael Hayden, the administration, and the NSA program. That’s fine, but it doesn’t change the law or the telcos’ potential liability for turning over the phone records of tens of millions of Americans.

Makes you wonder who's paying/pushing for this spewing, lying propaganda in the Washington Post and elsewhere in the corporate media, doesn't it? Is it the Bushies ... or is it the telcos? Or perhaps there's no dividing line, since they support the same goals.

ed: added a direct link to a post about the bogus WaPo/ABC "poll" on American's acceptance of domestic NSA spying being done by a company whose primary clients are telecommunications providers.

Note that Falkenrath, the author of this latest lie discussed here, is a former deputy assistent to Bush (as pointed out in the Think Progress article). And remember: the big telcos are the ones who stand to gain when the Bushies give them control of the internet. The circle of greedy fascist schemes is complete.

[C_U_L8R]

1. There's a simple way to make them accountable

don't patronize them... seek alternatives that will
support our constitutional rights.... if the law
won't make them accountable .... then we will.

[blm]

2. WaPo is SCARED - they know they're deeply invested in the fascist agenda

of BushInc. and now the people are starting to wake up and smell the creeping corporatism.

They will put out all the disinfo and fetid water they can to quench this fire.

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. But it's not going to help them if they continue to push the propaganda

news.

[Nothing Without Hope]

3. I'll self-kick until it's noticed n/t

[katinmn]

4. WaPo is fast becoming the new FOX

[Nothing Without Hope]

15. Yes, all the aspens are connected at the roots.

It's quite an incestuous bunch - the Bushies, the corporate media, the telcos, the weaponsmakers....the list goes on. All connected at the roots. Some show it more than others, and the WaPo isn't being subtle about it. Shows that we're in the Bushie endgame and the stakes are very high indeed.

[depakid]

22. I'd say it's worse than Fox for the simple reason

that even many here on DU still get conned by them.

They can't get it through their heads that this is not Katherine Graham's old post....

[Nothing Without Hope]

26. So true. All too many take them at their word - which is often lies. n/t

[Kagemusha]

5. I'll say it again... the NSA has no right to domestic call data.

The NSA is an agency of spooks under the Department of Defense, NOT law enforcement, any more than your average Army private can patrol the streets of major American cities wearing his combat uniform and bearing arms and enforce the law by virtue of being a member of the Army. It doesn't work that way.

According to the USA Today article, citing the Quest instance, these telcos could have asked three questions.

1) Where's your warrant?
2) Where's your subpoena?
3) Where's your waiver from the Attorney General?

Any of those three would have constituted the government "asking" for the data according to exceptions built into the law to ensure that a LAWFUL PURPOSE is present. The telcos are not supposed to give out this data except in cases of a warrant or subpoena, and the waiver that the government did not view either as necessary would have been a CYA act which apparently did not happen, so the A is not C'd (ass is not covered).

And that is a big problem for the telcos that cooperated.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

6. I think the blame chain will go like this

The NSA will say, hey, we just asked, they gave/sold (still to be determined?)the records to us voluntarily so go talk to the telecoms.

Bush will say he is out of this particular loop which is why he gave the weird press conference acting like he was still just talking about international communications and he will ultimately blame it on Cheney whom he will ask to step down and who he will replace with Ta- dah! his brother.

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. Note: the author of this lying WaPo piece is a former dep. asst. to BUSH

The dots are not hard to connect in this shameless cycle of manufactured "news" that is then passed to the TV media and radio talk hosts to be announced as truth.

And remember: the big telcos are the ones who stand to gain when the Bushies give them control of the internet. Lots of mutual back-scratching going on here.

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. The scheme is repeated endlessly: faux "report" then passed to the

other mass media to drum in as "truth." Facts? Who needs facts? They can manufacture all they want and have it on your TV over and over the same day. The aspens are connected at the roots.

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. ***Like clockwork: BUSHIES FILE MOTION TO DISMISS SUIT AGAINST AT&T:***

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2281872
thread title (5-13-06): Motion filed to intervene in AT&T secrets case(seeks dismissal)

This is a California-based case filed before the latest revelations of NSA domestic spying:

The class-action suit was filed by San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of AT&T customers in January -- before reports this week that AT&T and two other phone companies were secretly helping the government compile a massive database of phone calls made in the United States. In its motion seeking intervention, posted on the court's Web site, the government said the interests of the parties in the lawsuit "may well be in the disclosure of state secrets" in their effort to present their claims or defenses.

More in opening post of the other thread; there's a link to a Yahoo News article.

[Justice Is Comin]

10. Thanks for the effort on the post NWH.

He might also want to check with the two lawyers who, already Friday, have filed suit against Verizon for 5 BILLION dollars. :rofl:

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. Here are two of the current DU threads on suits against Verizon:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2280723
(5-12-06) Verizon Sued for Giving Records to NSA

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2281899
(5-13-06) Verizon Faces New $20B Suit over NSA Spying Complicity (a 2nd lawsuit)

Guess the Bushie xerox machines will be busy, trying to get all these suits dropped. sfexpat2000 is so right: the judgement in the AT&T suit will carry very great weight: it will in effect rule on whether Bush can break the law with impunity, since the government is saying that because of its permission AT&T is not liable for its crimes.

[flyarm]

18. nj lawsuit..fcc site showing law forbids info release

TRENTON, N.J. - Two New Jersey public interest lawyers sued Verizon Communications Inc. for $5 billion Friday

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060512/ap_on_bi_ge/nsa_rec...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Excellent, simple FCC site showing law forbidding your info release.

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/phoneaboutyou.html

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Affidavit from AT&T Tech on TOTAL US INTERNET SURVEILLANCE

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front245386...

[EFerrari]

12. This is the one to watch, imho. It will speak volumes to

the backbone of our judicial system.

Here's #5

:kick:

[Nothing Without Hope]

13. You're so right. Let's hope the judge in the AT&T case upholds the law

He/She will be under great pressure from the Bushies because they know it's a test case for Bush being above the law.

[seafan]

19. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to hear arguments on unsealing docs

next Wednesday, May 17, 2006.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker is considering whether to unseal documents that Klein provided and AT&T wants kept secret. EFF filed the documents under seal as a courtesy to the phone company, but is seeking to unseal them.

The EFF lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, seeks to stop the surveillance program that started shortly after the 2001 terror attacks. The suit is based in large part on the Klein documents, which detail secret spying rooms and electronic surveillance equipment in AT&T facilities.

The suit claims AT&T company not only provided direct access to its network that carries voice and data but also to its massive databases of stored telephone and Internet records that are updated constantly.

AT&T violated U.S. law and the privacy of its customers as part of the “massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications” without warrants, the EFF alleged.

snip

From the opening post in this thread.



And today, this from the SF Chronicle:

U.S. moves in secret to quash suit against AT&T

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker is scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday on AT&T's request to seal documents obtained by a former company technician allegedly describing company equipment in San Francisco capable of scanning huge amounts of data for use by the federal agency.

The government's authority to keep military secrets out of court was recognized by the Supreme Court in 1953. A 1998 ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the potential disclosure of secret information may require dismissal of an entire lawsuit.

"This is the most powerful privilege that the government asserts,'' said Gregory Sisk, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota who has studied the issue. "The Supreme Court has said that a (judge) must give utmost deference to the government.''

No governmental claim of state secrets privilege should trump its violation of established law!!

This is the core of the argument. Will our courts allow this rogue government to get away with violating the U. S. Constitution? This is a duel that BushCo will do everything possible to avoid, because they know they will lose.

We will soon see some true patriots of the United States of America come forth.

Bankston, lawyer for the San Francisco privacy-rights group, said, "We believe that we could prove our case without revealing any information that would harm the national security.''

And I also believe they can as well. That is why BushCo HAS TO THROW OUT THIS LAWSUIT before any of this is exposed.

Unfortunately for this administration, there are millions of citizens working against it now.

The Decider may as well turn himself in. It's going to be hell to pay.



Walker becomes chief district judge

September 1, 2004

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, an independent-minded conservative who has presided over high-profile cases on prisoners, banks and newspapers during 15 years on the bench, becomes chief judge of the Northern District of California today.

Walker, 60, appointed by former President George H.W. Bush, succeeds Marilyn Hall Patel, who has completed her seven-year term and returns to full- time judging. The chief judge carries a reduced caseload while handling administrative duties and managing the budget for a district that has trial courts in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose and extends from Monterey County to the Oregon border.

Walker, a longtime business lawyer in San Francisco, was first nominated to the bench by President Ronald Reagan but encountered opposition over his membership in the all-male Olympic Club and his representation of the U.S. Olympic Committee in a suit that prevented a Bay Area group from calling its athletic competition the Gay Olympics.

He has been unorthodox as a judge, requiring law firms to bid for the status of lead counsel in securities class-action suits and publicly calling for legalization of drugs.

His rulings have overturned San Francisco's voter-approved limits on bank ATM fees, dismissed a slave-labor suit against Japanese companies by former World War II prisoners of war and allowed reporters to watch all stages of lethal injection executions. He dismissed a suit by anti-logging protesters whose eyes were swabbed with liquid pepper spray, a decision later overturned by an appeals court; and approved Hearst Corp.'s purchase of The Chronicle, despite Walker's reservations about the Justice Department's antitrust review.

Not really what I wanted to read.

[Nothing Without Hope]

20. So, Judge Walker is a Reagan nominee and a Bush41 appointee.

Not encouraging. The law is very clear - will he ignore it to support the government's lies? If he does, the fight becomes harder.

Thanks for all this important information.

[seafan]

24. It all comes down to whether this rogue adm will be held accountable.

We are at a fork in this dangerous and unprecedented road.

If this judge rules that the administration can break any established law they wish, under the guise of *state secrets*, We The People will act.

I hope to God that as many people as possible,and as fast as possible, are waking up to what is happening.

[glitch]

25. Walker huh? Any relation? Lest we forget what "W" stands for. nt

[Nothing Without Hope]

17. Another thread on the Bushie motion to dismiss the AT&T suit:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1179222

An awful lot is riding on that judge's decisions. Anybody know anything about him/her? Let's hope they're not a Bushie-appointed drone.

[flyarm]

16. the WAPO is idiot sons monica!!..doesn't everyone know that yet??

the wa po is nothing but a big giant bj!

[Nothing Without Hope]

21. Some US cartoonists are doing their part to show the truth:

[Nothing Without Hope]

23. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

27. Buzzflash editorial on the "fixed" WaPo poll on NSA spying and WHY

the consistent pro-Bush lies:

http://www.buzzflash.com/index.php?story=Story2

Washington Post "Fixes the Polls" for Bush by "Fixing the Questions"

May 13, 2006

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

As the blog Firedog Lake so ably reports, the Washington Post loaded a poll so that it would appear that Americans support illegal domestic spying. The problem is that when you read the poll closely, they only support it when it might lead to apprehending terrorists. As we know, that is the discredited and highly dubious claim being used by the Busheviks to implement their domestic spying program -- and the dismantling of the Constitution in general. So, it is an extremely incompetent, even propagandistic poll.

Why is this Washington Post poll important?

Because the Democrats retreat at the slightest indication that their principled position might not be supported by the American public (although we are dumbfounded that with a president at 29% approval ratings that wouldn't be sufficient proof that the public wants the Democrats to stand up for the Constitution and competency, as well as the rule of law.)

(snip)

Despite supporting Kerry, it {the Washington Post} is, on a day to day basis, an enabler of Bush, from the Karl Bernstein hagiographies of Bush and his covering up for their crimes -- to the editorial pages -- to the burying of significant stories on Bush illegalities and failures to the back pages of the front section. The editorial pages may indeed take shots, now and then, at Bush on individual issues -- and it is liberal on gay rights and abortion, but it is politically aligned with keeping Bush in power, because the Republicans are necessary for giving the Washington Post parent company the media consolidation regulations, tax breaks, and regulatory relief that it needs.

(snip - more at link)