WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union Wednesday backed AT&T shareholders in their bid to force disclosure on NSA secret monitoring.
"In an era when one of the nation's oldest corporate names has begun to collude with the government in an illegal domestic spying program, patriots must seek out every possible avenue for defending the Constitution and our privacy," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Project. "We are backing this campaign because it promises to increase AT&T's accountability and shed light on just what kind of spying has been taking place."
The ACLU said some AT&T shareholders effort would present a resolution at AT&T's April stockholder meeting demanding the corporation's management publish a report dealing with its cooperation with the U.S. National Security Agency and explaining how AT&T could "further ensure" customer privacy. The proposal is also backed by the As You Sow Foundation, an investor activist group.
ACLU said that AT&T had "appealed to the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to exclude the resolution from its proxy statement."
"The company claimed that the resolution would interfere with 'ordinary business matters, and also relied upon a declaration from National Intelligence Director John Negroponte citing the so-called 'state secrets privilege," the ACLU said.
"This is really an issue for anyone who uses a telephone and values privacy and the rule of law," Steinhardt said. "But it is of particular concern for AT&T shareholders because of the enormous multi-billion-dollar financial liability that AT&T may have engendered, and because of the damage to the company's reputation and the trust of its current and potential customers. AT&T management should not be trying to duck accountability on this matter."
