FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
Organization Seeks Information on Verizon’s Illegal Disclosure of Customer Records
PORTLAND, ME -- The Maine Civil Liberties Union, acting as intervenors in a complaint filed by James Cowie with the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC), demanded an investigation into whether the Verizon telecommunications company has allowed the NSA to spy on its customers in Maine.
“Monitoring the e-mail and phone calls of millions of innocent Americans does not make us safer, but it does make us less free,” said Shenna Bellows, Executive Director of the MCLU. “The Administration and now apparently the phone companies have violated the Constitution and the public trust in spying on so many Americans without probable cause.”
Following state guidelines for complaints directed toward a utility, the
Maine Civil Liberties Union joined James Cowie in organizing a “10
customer
complaint” with the utility. The complaint, which calls
on the commission
to investigate whether Verizon has allowed the NSA
unrestricted access to
customer e-mail and phone communications, was
filed May 8. It questions
whether circuits have been installed in
any Verizon facilities within Maine to
facilitate NSA surveillance and
whether the records of Maine residents have been
included in any data
mining samples provided to the NSA.
News reports
indicate that at least three companies - Verizon, BellSouth,
and
AT&T- have complied with requests from the NSA to turn over the calling
records of millions of customers across the nation. The
complaint
seeks to uncover the extent to which Verizon has allowed
spying in Maine.
Original requests to Verizon for that
information were met with no comment, but
the complaint filed with the
utility commission will give Verizon until May 19
to disclose whether
it provided the government access to the calling activity of
Maine
residents.
“Warrantless wiretapping is illegal,” said Bellows. “No one – not the phone companies and not the President – is above the law.”