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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (741344)	5/24/2006 7:12:53 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

ACLU to launch Don't Spy On Me campaign By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer Wed May 24, 3:03 AM ET news.yahoo.com A civil rights group was launching a nationwide Don't Spy On Me campaign Wednesday to urge the public to demand that the Federal Communications Commission and state utility commissions probe whether phone companies broke laws by sharing customer records with the government's biggest spy agency. On its Web site Tuesday night, the American Civil Liberties Union said it was demanding action at the FCC in Washington, D.C., and in 17 states. It was to advertise the start of its program in newspapers across the country Wednesday. The campaign, symbolized by a telephone with an eye on it, urges members of the public to go to an ACLU Web site to add their names to complaints being filed with the FCC and with state utility commissions to show there is a large population of people upset by the sharing of their records. Several ACLU representatives declined to speak late Tuesday about the program because a Wednesday morning news conference was scheduled, but some information was placed on the organization's Web site. "Join us in our work," the ACLU site said, referring to the program. "Help defend privacy and civil liberties." Some items on the Web site were removed after The Associated Press called to ask about them. Items posted on the site included a rough draft of a letter the ACLU planned to send Wednesday to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. In the letter, the ACLU said recent inconsistent statements by phone companies showed the need for an independent entity like the FCC to investigate allegations that telecommunications companies illegally cooperated with the National Security Administration to collect calling information patterns on Americans. On Tuesday, Martin said in a letter that the agency doesn't have the power to review classified information, according to Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the ranking Democrat on a House telecommunications subcommittee. "The classified nature of the NSA's activities makes us unable to investigate the alleged violations discussed in your letter," Martin, a Republican, wrote in a letter dated Monday. Markey asked Martin last week to investigate reports that AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. shared phone call records about tens of millions of Americans with the NSA. A Democratic FCC commissioner, Michael J. Copps, said last week that the agency should investigate phone companies involved in the NSA program. The ACLU said on its Web site in its draft letter to Martin that it was endorsing Copps' call. "This creation of a massive database of Americans' calling patterns seems to be in direct violation of federal law," the letter said. The letter reminded the FCC of its duty to protect the telephone records and calling information of the nation's telecommunications customers. President Bush and other administration officials have neither confirmed nor denied a USA Today report that the NSA is collecting the calling records of ordinary Americans in its effort to detect the plans of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations. Bush has said the administration's anti-terror surveillance programs are legal and constitutional. The ACLU set up special Web pages as part of the campaign. The pages featured a banner on top with the words "Don't Spy On Me" over a black background and a logo of a white telephone with a dark eyeball in the middle of it. The civil rights group told people to "tell the Federal Communications Commission to get the spies off the line." It also told viewers that FCC officials have the authority and obligation to investigate the NSA spying scandal "despite their wrong-headed refusal to act." It urged people to "tell the regulators to take action and penalize any phone company that is colluding with the Bush administration's illegal program." "Add your name to the public record," it said, "and support our formal demand to the FCC." The ACLU was planning to file actions with state utility commissions in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. Other states were expected to be added later. The ACLU late last year had asked people on its Web site to e-mail senators asking them to insist that the Department of Justice appoint a special counsel to investigate and prosecute any crimes related to Bush's decision to authorize the NSA to monitor — without warrants — people inside the United States. The administration had said the NSA's activities were narrowly targeted to intercept calls and e-mails of Americans and others inside the U.S. with suspected ties to al-Qaida. The ACLU had provided visitors to its Web site with a fill-in-the-blank system to send along a pre-prepared e-mail. Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.