Fergie's Tech Blog

Maine Asks Court to Dismiss Suit Over Phone Company Records

An AP newswire article by Glenn Adams, via The Boston Globe, reports that:

Maine's attorney general asked a federal court Thursday to throw out the government's lawsuit against Maine officials over whether a phone company should release information about its handling of confidential records.

Attorney General G. Steven Rowe said the state's request, filed on behalf of the Public Utilities Commission, asserts the federal government has no jurisdiction in the case. The state also contends that the government is wrong to invoke "state secrets" arguments.

"There are no state secrets at issue here," Rowe said at a news briefing after the motion to dismiss was filed in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

The litigation stems from a press release issued by Verizon and information it provided to the PUC, in which the telecommunications company claims it did not provide phone records to the government for its domestic surveillance program. The company also said in a May news release that it would not discuss any relationship with the National Security Agency program.

posted by Fergie @ 9/21/2006 03:04:00 PM