Nebraska rejects phone spy complaint

Nebraska rejects phone spy complaint

	Published : Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:11 By : Agencies Print this Story

LINCOLN, Neb. (AFX) - The Nebraska Public Service Commission has ruled it doesn't have the authority to investigate complaints that Verizon and AT&T may have shared customer records with the federal government's biggest spy agency.

In its ruling, the commission said it has 'great interest in the outcome' of the debate over whether it is proper for phone companies to turn over customer records to the National Security Agency, but it doesn't have jurisdiction over federal agencies.

'The issues raised by the ACLU in its complaint are appropriate for a federal court to decide, and such issues are currently pending in federal court and will be resolved by that tribunal,' the commission wrote in its Jan. 17 ruling.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed complaints with state utility commissions and attorneys general in Nebraska and more than 20 states last summer after media reports that several major phone companies had agreed to give the NSA millions of customer records.

The complaints raised concerns about consumer privacy and warrantless searches, said Amy Miller, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska.

'We are obviously disappointed by the state commission, but that doesn't mean this issue has gone away,' Miller said. 'At some point, whether it's another state authority or a federal judge, we are confident that the warrantless spying on innocent Americans will be held to be unconstitutional.'

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-terrorism surveillance programs are legal and constitutional.

The Nebraska commission said when it made its decision it did not consider a threatening letter the U.S. Department of Justice sent that promised a lawsuit if a state investigation moved forward.

Lawyers for both Verizon and AT&T argued that the Nebraska commission did not have jurisdiction over the case, and Verizon said it would be criminally liable if it provided any information about its alleged cooperation with the NSA.