ACLU of Michigan May Move Forward With Case Against AT&T and Verizon
Telecom giants’ motion to dismiss case before the Michigan Public Service Commission was deniedIMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 4, 2006
Detroit -- A Michigan Public Service Commission judge Friday denied AT&T and Verizon’s request to dismiss the complaint brought against them by the ACLU of Michigan for violating their own privacy agreements when they voluntarily gave customer telephone records to the National Security Agency.
"We are delighted to be able to move forward with our case. We are now one step closer to getting to the truth for all those Michigan residents’ who put their trust into these companies,” said Kary L. Moss, Executive Director of the ACLU of Michigan. “The bottom line is that phone companies should not be allowed to become surrogate spying agencies for the federal government.”
Responding to reports that phone companies are turning over private details about Americans’ telephone calls to the National Security Agency without court orders, the ACLU of Michigan filed a complaint in July with the Commission against the telecommunications giants. The complaint alleged that AT&T committed consumer fraud by violating its own assurances to customers that it would “ensure the confidentiality of every customer’s calling and account information.”
The complaint was filed on behalf of the ACLU of Michigan’s 16,000 members and seven doctors, attorneys and psychologists who are concerned that the breaches of the phone companies’ privacy policies may impact their confidential communications with clients and patients. According to news reports, the NSA has placed the calling records of tens of thousands of AT&T and Verizon customers in a massive government database.
In September, Administrative Law Judge Mark D. Eyster heard oral arguments on the phone companies’ request to dismiss the ACLU’s complaint. The phone companies have invoked the “state secrets” doctrine as basis for dismissal. This doctrine is a defense that the government is increasingly using to hide its conduct from judicial review.
In the 39-page decision, Eyster agreed with the ACLU of Michigan that the Michigan Public Service Commission has “jurisdiction to investigate and resolve these claims,” the state secrets doctrine does not apply to the companies, “as only the federal government may claim the state secrets privilege” and that the ACLU and its clients do in fact have standing.
“In order for me to give my patients the highest level of care I can not compromise their trust and legal right to privacy whenever they see me or speak to me. By even simply indicating that someone may be in treatment because their phone number is found on my call record constitutes a violation of my ethical duties,” said Dr. Micki Levin, a clinical psychologist in Bloomfield Hills. “With this decision, I am closer to being able to ensure privacy for my patients once again.”
The ACLU of Michigan is being represented by ACLU Cooperating Attorney Thomas F. Weider, ACLU of Michigan Legal Director Michael J. Steinberg and Moss.
More than 20 ACLU affiliates nationwide have called on their state Public Service Commission, state Attorneys General or other state officials demanding investigations into whether local telecommunications companies allowed the NSA to illegally spy on their customers. The national ACLU has also filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.
The Senate is now considering legislation that would pre-empt state Public Utility Commission investigations into whether telecom companies improperly shared personally-identifiable information with the National Security Agency. The ACLU’s letter about the bill, S.2389, the Protecting Consumer Phone Records Act can be found at www.aclu.org.
On August 17, 2006, in another ACLU case, District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that the NSA policy of wiretapping Americans’ phone and email communication within the U.S. without a court order was unconstitutional and illegal. This was the first ruling by a federal court to strike down the controversial NSA surveillance program. The case is currently being appealed by the federal government in the Sixth Circuit Court.
To read the Public Service Commissions Decision on the Motion to Dismiss, go to: http://www.aclumich.org/OpinionreMotionstoDismiss.pdf
To read the ACLU letter to the Michigan Public Service Commission, go to: http://aclumich.org/sites/default/files/file/pdf/publicserviceletter.pdf
