[Politech] Lawsuit against AT&T over NSA spying can proceed, judge says [priv]

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Thu Jul 20 2006 - 23:28:20 PDT


News coverage:
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6096637.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/washington/21data.html

The opinion itself:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/308_order_on_mtns_to_dismiss.pdf

This is important because it appears to have been the first time a 
federal judge has ruled on the Bush administration's recitation of the 
"state secrets" privilege in one of the NSA cases. (Others besides this 
one in San Francisco are still pending.)

-Declan

-------- Original Message --------

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Thursday, July 20, 2006


EFF's Spying Case Moves Forward - Judge Denies Government's
Motion to Dismiss AT&T Case

Conference Call for Reporters at 1:30pm: 1-866-295-5950,
code 3527213#

San Francisco - A federal judge today denied the
government's motion to dismiss the Electronic Frontier
Foundation's (EFF's) case against AT&T for collaborating
with the NSA in illegal spying of millions of ordinary
Americans.  This allows the case to go forward in the
courts.

EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston, EFF Legal Director Cindy
Cohn, and Robert Fram of Heller Ehrman LLP will analyze the
ruling and answer questions in a conference call at 1:30pm.

EFF filed the class-action suit against AT&T in January,
alleging that the telecommunications company has given the
National Security Agency (NSA) secret, direct access to the
phone calls and emails going over its network and has been
handing over communications logs detailing the activities
of millions of ordinary Americans.

WHAT: Teleconference about AT&T surveillance ruling

WHO: EFF attorneys Kevin Bankson and Cindy Cohn, Robert Fram of
Heller Ehrman LLP

WHEN: 1:30pm

NUMBER: 1-866-295-5950, code 3527213#

For the judge's decision:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/308_order_on_mtns_to_dismiss.pdf

For more on the AT&T lawsuit:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_07.php#004832

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


      -end-
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