A T & T, BellSouth & Verizon Guilty...

Of following the law . After all the huffing and puffing over USA Today's article , you'd think that these phone companies had broken the law. That isn't the case.

In fact, according to Paul Butler, a former terrorism prosecutor, the Supreme Court has ruled that the government collecting phone numbers alone doesn't violate a person's Fourth Amendment rights because there isn't an expectation of privacy. PERIOD.

Further, Patrick Leahy's rant notwithstanding, there's a law on the books from 1994, called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act that says in its opening its purpose:
to make clear a telecommunications carrier's duty to cooperate in the interception of communications for law enforcement purposes, and for other purposes.
That Leahy would go off on such a rant today is inexplicable since he surely voted on this legislation. What's the likelihood he'll use the excuse that he wasn't paying attention that day?

According to a host of TV reports today, no calls are being listened in on and the peoples' names and addresses aren't given to the government.

In the end, this shows USA Today's ignorance of the laws on the books. It also shows that Patrick Leahy is a blowhard who shouldn't be taken seriously.


Posted Thursday, May 11, 2006 4:48 PM

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