Fergie's Tech Blog

Judge Denies Government and AT&T Motions to Dismiss NSA Case

Kevi Poulsen writes on 27B Stroke 6:

A federal judge in San Francisco has rejected the Bush administration's bid to kill the EFF's class action lawsuit alleging that AT&T is cooperating in an illegal NSA surveillance program that monitors Americans' internet activities.

In a 72-page written decision issued Thursday, U.S. District Court chief judge Vaughn Walker rejected the government's argument that merely allowing the case to proceed would cause critical harm to U.S. national security -- a ruling that marks a significant victory for EFF, and puts a rare limitation on the reach of the president's "state secrets privilege" to sweep alleged illegal government activities under the cloak of national security.

posted by Fergie @ 7/20/2006 02:22:00 PM