Fergie's Tech Blog

Protesters Face Off With Verizon, AT&T

Marguerite Reardon and Declan McCullagh write on C|Net News:

Protesters lined streets on both coasts Wednesday to bring public awareness to the telecommunications policy debates currently going on in Washington, D.C., and to show opposition to the phone companies reportedly providing customer records without a court order to the National Security Agency.

The protest, called National Day of Out(R)age, was staged in several cities throughout the United States, including New York, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco.

Recent consolidation among telecommunications providers has made many people wary of the concentrated power the new mega-phone companies wield, especially in Washington, D.C., where they are spending millions of dollars to lobby Congress as it makes changes to the Telecommunications Act. This, coupled with reports that the phone companies helped the National Security Agency compile a database of Americans' phone records, has raised eyebrows among watchdog groups and concerned citizens.

More here.

posted by Fergie @ 5/24/2006 06:15:00 PM