Tuesday, November 14, 2006

EFF to Fight Against Spying Case Delays in Friday Hearing. EFF to Fight Against Spying Case Delays in Friday Hearing. Judge to Consider Next Steps in Class Action Lawsuits San Francisco - On Friday, November 17, at 10:30 a.m., a federal judge in San Francisco will consider the next steps in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) class-action lawsuit against AT&T. EFF's suit accuses the telecom giant of collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in illegal spying on millions of ordinary Americans. Other cases recently transferred to U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker's courtroom include similar allegations. The U.S. government has intervened in EFF's case, contending that even if the NSA program is illegal, the lawsuit should be dismissed because it might expose state secrets. Last week, the U.S. government asked the judge to halt all proceedings until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on motions to dismiss the case. Friday's case management conference will address how EFF's suit and the other class-action cases might go forward without implicating the state secrets privilege, and what discovery should proceed during the appeals process. For more information about attending the hearing, please contact press@eff.org. WHAT: Hepting v. AT&T and other NSA telecommunications records lawsuits WHEN: Friday, November 17, 10:30 a.m. WHERE: 450 Golden Gate Ave., Courtroom 6 San Francisco, CA 94102 For more on EFF's case against AT&T: http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/ Contact: Rebecca Jeschke Media Coordinator Electronic Frontier Foundation press@eff.org [EFF: Breaking News] 9:03:51 PM

Don't Let Lame Duck Congress Pass NSA Spying Bills! Don't Let Lame Duck Congress Pass NSA Spying Bills! On Election Day, Americans fired many members of Congress who wanted to rubberstamp the NSA's illegal surveillance program. But before newly-elected representatives can take office and defend your rights, the president wants to sneak through spying legislation -- including a proposal that could threaten cases like EFF's lawsuit against AT&T. Your help is urgently needed to stop these dangerous proposals. Lawsuits against the telephone providers may provide the best chance to stop the spying program, and no one should be let off the hook for such blatant violation of the law. Yet members of Congress are now pushing legislation that purports to immunize telephone companies and other corporations that illegally collaborated with the government's spying program. Lame duck representatives may try to attach these proposals to a variety of bills. Don't let them get away with it -- use our Action Center to see if your representative is one of the key people who can stop these bills, and call them now. For more: EFF and other plaintiffs in cases related to the spying program yesterday urged Congressional leaders to oppose the telecom immunity proposals. LA Times and Oregon Register-Guard editorials advising Congress to reject these bills. EPIC's Marc Rotenburg, "Congress legislating in the dark" [EFF: Deep Links] 8:32:52 PM

© Copyright 2006 Paul Hardwick. Last update: 12/6/06; 2:39:48 AM.