FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has officially declined to launch an inquiry into the behavior of US telephone companies after September 11.
Extensive news reports have claimed that AT&T, BellSouth (now part of AT&T), and Verizon offered the NSA access to certain information from their networks, and some reports have indicated that AT&T even allowed the government to install optical splitters at key locations. Attempts at suing the companies for disclosing customer information without a legal basis have to date been thwarted or delayed by the government's decision to assert a "state secrets" privilege in the cases. Intelligence officials also make clear that they would like to see retroactive immunity given to the phone companies for their (alleged) tremendous act of service to the nation.
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), who heads the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, has been asking the FCC for months to launch an investigation of the entire affair. After receiving Markey's letter earlier this year, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wrote the Attorney General and asked for legal guidance on whether such a proceeding would jeopardize US national security.
Given the importance of the proceeding, you might expect the Attorney General's office to respond immediately, and with a forceful defense of secrecy. Instead, Martin was met with silence. When he did not receive a reply, Martin again contacted the Department of Justice, which eventually referred his query to J.M. McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence.
McConnell responded last week, telling Martin (to no one's surprise) that such an investigation could cause "exceptionally grave damage to the national security." Martin then sent a letter to Markey that included this little timeline of events.
"I am disappointed by the FCC's response," Markey said in a statement after receiving the letter. "I still hold that it is well within the authority of the independent agency responsible for the enforcement of our nation's communications privacy laws to investigate the very serious reports that the intelligence agencies were using telephone companies to obtain phone records and Internet data on citizens without proper, prior authorization. I believe the agency could conduct its own examination of such reports in a way that safeguards national security."
Markey and other members of the House appear determined to press ahead with some sort of investigation of their own, however. Markey, John Dingell (D-MI), and Bart Stupak (D-MI) all signed letters to AT&T, Verizon, and Qwest last week that sought more information about how the companies handled the release of private information. They also sought comments on the matter from groups like the ACLU, the EFF, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Markey still wants to see fireworks, but it looks like they'll happen at the Capitol and not FCC headquarters.
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