Free Press Decries Spying Program
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has obtained a top secret court order requiring Verizon to turn over records of all calls the company’s customers make. The National Security Agency is collecting information on the numbers that Verizon customers call and on the duration of each call.
The Obama administration's surveillance effort apparently continues a program the Bush administration began to create a database of all phone calls made within the U.S. and between people in the U.S. and other countries. The Guardian uncovered and first reported the secret court order.
Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron made the following statement:
"Tracking phone calls made by hundreds of millions of innocent Americans is spying, pure and simple. This program is the latest in a series of shocking disclosures about the Obama administration’s willingness to trample basic civil liberties and track our every movement.
"The Verizon court order may be just the tip of the iceberg. The government may be demanding the same information from other phone companies and may have been doing it for years and years. However deep this goes, there are some lines that no government and no company should cross.”
###
