Maine on the leading edge of NSA Phonegate

[formercia]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/05/19/verizon_responds_to_phone_records_complaint/

Verizon responds to phone records complaint

By Clarke Canfield, Associated Press Writer | May 19, 2006

PORTLAND, Maine --Verizon phone company on Friday told the Maine Public Utilities Commission that it should dismiss a complaint seeking to find out if it is giving the National Security Agency information on its telephone customers in Maine.

In a seven-page response to the PUC, Verizon said the commission lacks the authority over NSA records because the NSA program is "highly classified." Verizon also said it can neither confirm nor deny whether it has any relationship to an NSA program.

A group of 21 Mainers filed a complaint last week asking the PUC to order Verizon New England Inc. to answer whether it provided telephone records and information to the federal government without customers' knowledge or consent. The complaint further asked if Verizon had given the NSA access to its telephone switching equipment.

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Two days after the complaint in Maine was filed, USA Today newspaper reported that the NSA had collected the phone records of millions of Americans using data provided by Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp.