As Alex Abdo, noted on the ACLU Blog of Rights last week, the latest documents concerning the government's suspcionless surveillance program were shocking in their frankness. In particular, the FBI acknowledged why the government doesn't want the public to know about this surveillance--people would get mad at their phone companies for turning over personal information without permission.
But, of course, Maine phone customers and telephone regulators knew that to be true already. ACLU of MAINE volunteer Doug Cowie and dozens of other Verizon customers petitioned the Maine Public Utilities Commission five years ago to find out whether Verizon was turning over personal phone data without permission or a warrant. The Public Utilities Commission wanted the answer to that as well, and it took a federal lawsuit and a federal statute to halt the investigation.
When companies break the law, or violates a customer's trust, it isn't the government's job to shield them from legitimate customer antagonism. Companies that broke the law should face the consequences (and a few consequences once in a while for government officials who broke the law wouldn't be a terrible thing either).
