Judge rules against government: 1st Annual Cypherpunks Award

[Tyler Durden]

It's interesting to consider that Wired may have deliberately published as 
much as it could about AT&T in order to defuse the claim that a public trial 
would compromise national security--if the details are already publically 
available then that argument fails.

A very cypherpunkly action. I nominate Wired for the 1st annual Cypherpunks 
award. We should also have a "Needs Killing" AP award...

-TD


>From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
>To: cypherpunks at jfet.org
>Subject: [Clips] Judge rules against government in spying lawsuit
>Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:03:14 -0400
>
>--- begin forwarded text
>
>
>   Delivered-To: rah at shipwright.com
>   Delivered-To: clips at philodox.com
>   Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:56:51 -0400
>   To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
>   From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
>   Subject: [Clips] Judge rules against government in spying lawsuit
>   Reply-To: clips-chat at philodox.com
>   Sender: clips-bounces at philodox.com
>
>
><http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/07/20/state/n120253D53.DTL&type=printable>
>
>
>
>   Judge rules against government in spying lawsuit
>
>   - By DAVID KRAVETS, AP Legal Affairs Writer
>
>   Thursday, July 20, 2006
>
>   (07-20) 12:51 PDT San Francisco (AP) --
>
>   A federal judge on Thursday rejected a government bid to dismiss a 
>lawsuit
>   challenging the Bush administration's domestic spying program, saying it
>   failed to qualify as a "state secret" because it had been widely 
>reported.
>
>   U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said a case could go forward over 
>AT&T's
>   alleged involvement in President Bush's surveillance program adopted 
>after
>   the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
>
>   "The compromise between liberty and security remains a difficult one,"
>   Walker wrote in his ruling. "But dismissing this case at the outset 
>would
>   sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security."
>
>   The government invoked the so-called "state secrets privilege" and said 
>the
>   case by Electronic Frontier Foundation should be thrown out because it
>   threatens to reveal state secrets and jeopardize the war on terror.
>
>   "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 in his ruling.
>
>   The case is one of dozens nationwide against telecoms and the government
>   alleging they are illegally intercepting Americans' electronic
>   communications without warrants. Thursday's decision was the first to
>   address the state secrets defense.
>
>   The Justice Department did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
>
>   The lawsuit by the privacy group tests the constitutionality of Bush's
>   asserted wartime powers to eavesdrop on Americans without warrants. The
>   government intervened and said that divulging information about any 
>alleged
>   collusion between AT&T and the government could subject AT&T employees 
>and
>   facilities to attack and would enable terrorists "to communicate more
>   securely."
>
>   The legal tactic of state secrets privilege, 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 scrutiny by the courts, from espionage cases and patent disputes to
>   routine employment discrimination lawsuits.
>
>   The president confirmed in December that the National Security Agency 
>has
>   been conducting warrantless surveillance of calls and e-mails thought to
>   involve al-Qaida terrorists if at least one of the parties to the
>   communication is outside the United States.
>
>   The administration is mum on whether purely domestic calls and 
>electronic
>   communications are being monitored as the suit alleges.
>
>   The suit was brought by EFF on behalf of customers of San Antonio-based
>   AT&T. The group accuses the telecom of illegally cooperating with the 
>NSA
>   to make communications on AT&T networks available to the spy agency 
>without
>   warrants.
>
>   The EFF asked Judge Walker to rule on whether the president possesses
>   wartime powers to authorize warrantless eavesdropping in the United 
>States
>   without publicly disclosing any classified or sensitive material. The 
>EFF
>   charged that AT&T, which neither confirms nor denies the allegations,
>   practices "wholesale surveillance" of its customers.
>
>   Walker also declined to dismiss AT&T from the case.
>
>   "AT&T cannot seriously contend that a reasonable entity in its position
>   could have believed that the alleged domestic dragnet was legal," Walker
>   wrote.
>
>   The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state secrets defense as recently as
>   January, when it rejected an appeal from a former covert CIA officer who
>   accused the agency of racial discrimination. And in May, citing the 
>state
>   secrets defense, the government urged a federal judge in Virginia to 
>block
>   a lawsuit by a German national who says he was illegally held and 
>tortured
>   in a CIA-run prison in Afghanistan for four months.
>
>   The Supreme Court first recognized the state secrets doctrine in 1953, 
>when
>   it dismissed a lawsuit against the government brought by family members 
>of
>   people killed in a plane wreck while testing secret electronic 
>surveillance
>   equipment.
>
>   The case is Hepting v. AT&T Inc., 06-0672.
>
>
>   --
>   -----------------
>   R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
>   The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
>   44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
>   "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
>   [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
>   experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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>--- end forwarded text
>
>
>--
>-----------------
>R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
>The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
>44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
>"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
>[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
>experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'