Verizon Records Disclosure Free Speech

Its an interesting way to look at the case of AT&T, Verizon, and other phone companies who voluntarily turn over phone records to the NSA to allow them to be searched for terrorist related chatter. 

EFF and the ACLU want to prevent these phone companies from participating in the program, and they are being sued over it.  But Verizon says it amounts to a SLAPP Suit to prevent them from exercising free speech to petition the government.

From ARS Technica here:

Verizon is one of the phone companies currently being sued over its alleged disclosure of customer phone records to the NSA. In a response to the court last week, the company asked for the entire consolidated case against it to be thrown out—on free speech grounds.

The response also alleges that the case should be thrown out because even looking into the issue could violate state secrets, of course, but a much longer section of the response tries to make the case that Verizon has a First Amendment right to “petition” the government. “Based on plaintiffs’ own allegations, defendants’ right to communicate such information to the government is fully protected by the Free Speech and Petition Clauses of the First Amendment,” argue Verizon’s lawyers.

Essentially, the argument is that turning over truthful information to the government is free speech, and the EFF and ACLU can’t do anything about it. In fact, Verizon basically argues that the entire lawsuit is a giant SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) suit, and that the case is an attempt to deter the company from exercising its First Amendment right to turn over customer calling information to government security services. 

“Communicating facts to the government is protected petitioning activity,” says the response, even when the communication of those facts would normally be illegal or would violate a company’s owner promises to its customers. Verizon argues that, if the EFF and other groups have concerns about customer call records, the only proper remedy “is to impose restrictions on the government, not on the speaker’s right to communicate.”

Verizon lost employees on 9/11.  I think they do their memory justice to participate in any program that will prevent a recurrence of those tragic events.