FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     
June 30, 2006                                                

MCLU Renews Call for PUC Investigation of Verizon

Verizon Should Stop Stonewalling

PORTLAND, Maine –The Maine Civil Liberties Union (MCLU) renewed its call today for an investigation of Verizon Maine.  Over 400 telephone customers across Maine have complained to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) about the potential breach of their privacy.  In filings to the PUC, Verizon Maine refuses to confirm or deny participation in the controversial National Security Agency surveillance program.  The PUC is still trying to decide whether or not to investigate the customer complaints and asked all parties, including the MCLU, for additional information. 

“The PUC has an obligation to protect the privacy rights of Maine telephone customers,” said John Paterson, an MCLU cooperating attorney with Bernstein Shur.  “It’s time for the PUC to start asking questions and for Verizon to give Mainers some straight answers.”

Mr. Paterson, lead author of today’s MCLU comments, chairs the Litigation Practice Group of the law firm of Bernstein Shur.  The MCLU comments address Verizon Maine’s argument that the so-called state secrets privilege prevents the PUC from investigating their actions.  The state secrets privilege, when properly invoked, permits the government to block disclosure of information that would cause harm to national security, but private corporations may not assert the state secrets privilege. 

“The state secrets privilege belongs to the government and must be asserted by it in a court of law,” said Shenna Bellows, MCLU Executive Director.  “No company, and certainly not one responsible for the privacy of its customers, can exert this privilege lightly in order to escape public scrutiny.”

The Office of the Public Advocate, Lead Complainant James Cowie, and Complainant Christopher Branson also filed comments with the PUC today urging an immediate investigation into the potential privacy violations.

Public utilities governing bodies in Vermont and Washington have already opened formal investigations into the telephone companies’ involvement with the National Security Agency surveillance program in their states.  The New Jersey attorney general has also launched an investigation, issuing subpoenas to the telephone companies.   

“We know the law is being broken.  The question is just how broadly,” said Bellows. “Mainers deserve to know if the phone company is helping the government spy on them.” 

Maine was the first state to file a customer complaint with the Public Utilities Commission when 21 Mainers led by James Cowie filed a complaint on May 8.  ACLU affiliates in 20 states subsequently petitioned their local public utilities commissions or attorneys general to open investigations of the phone companies.  At the national level, the ACLU has requested that the Federal Communications Commission to intervene.  The PUC and FCC complaints are part of a broader ACLU campaign to end illegal government spying on millions of Americans.  When the National Security Agency spying program was initially uncovered last December, the ACLU was one of the first organizations to bring a lawsuit against the National Security Agency, acting on behalf of a prominent and politically diverse group of journalists, scholars and lawyers.  That lawsuit is before a Detroit judge.

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