Honor Among Thieves

From today's New York Times:

Qwest was apparently alone among the four major telephone companies to have resisted the requests to cooperate with the government effort. A statement issued on behalf of Mr. Nacchio yesterday by his lawyer, Herbert J. Stern, said that after the government's first approach in the fall of 2001, "Mr. Nacchio made inquiry as to whether a warrant or other legal process had been secured in support of that request."

"When he learned that no such authority had been granted, and that there was a disinclination on the part of the authorities to use any legal process," Mr. Nacchio concluded that the requests violated federal privacy requirements "and issued instructions to refuse to comply."

The statement said the requests continued until Mr. Nacchio left in June 2002. His departure came amid accusations of fraud at the company, and he now faces federal charges of insider trading.

So the insider trading guy decided that the government was acting out side the law. And, he stood up to them.

Also - he was first approached in the Fall of 2001. Yes, Mr. Bush has stated that this is a limited program only used on known Al Qaida suspects. I have to admit I never bought it - because if it were truly that limited they could have gone through the FISA court. Instead we find out that for nearly six years the government has been collecting every phone call we have ever made.

Does anyone know how we can sign on for the class action law suits? I had Bell South for five years and Verizon for the past year.