07-21-2006, 06:34 AM
Hurray for the good guys!
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3433
--Daily tech report
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...gy/15084345.htm
--Original rejection article
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/308_ord..._to_dismiss.pdf
--official orders of US State District Court for Northern California in 72 pages
That judge seems competent, and I am so ($*&(*& glad, because having liberties taking from under me without knowledge nor court challenge to balance federal power is just insane.
Quote:A federal judge has rejected a motion by the US government and AT&T to dismiss a lawsuit against AT&T, which was accused by the Electronic Frontier Foundation of assisting the National Security Agency in eavesdropping on Americans. The lawsuit was originally filed against AT&T on January 31, 2006. The US government attempted to have the lawsuit thrown out because it potentially jeopardized the war on terror and may unintentionally reveal state secrets. The decision by a US District Court Judge in San Francisco will allow the EFF's class action lawsuit against AT&T to continue.
Free speech and privacy issues arose when it was disclosed that AT&T apparently opened up its telecommunications facilties so that the NSA could use them while spying on phone conversations and e-mails of millions of American citizens.
Quote:"AT&T cannot seriously contend that a reasonable entity in its position could have believe that the alleged domestic dragnet was legal," US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said.
A Justice Department spokesman said the administration was reviewing the ruling before making its next step.
"The compromise between liberty and security remains a difficult one...but dismissing this case at the outset would sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security."
``It might appear that none of the subject matter in this litigation could be considered a secret given that the alleged surveillance programs have been so widely reported in the media,'' Walker said.
The state secrets defense, first recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in a McCarthy-era lawsuit, has been increasingly and successfully invoked by federal lawyers seeking to shield the government from court scrutiny.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3433
--Daily tech report
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...gy/15084345.htm
--Original rejection article
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/308_ord..._to_dismiss.pdf
--official orders of US State District Court for Northern California in 72 pages
That judge seems competent, and I am so ($*&(*& glad, because having liberties taking from under me without knowledge nor court challenge to balance federal power is just insane.