The time for economic action against telcos The recent disclosures of illegal NSA activities abetted by the majority of the large telephone companies was that event that said it was now time for more than rhetorical hand-wringing. The essential scope of collecting calling records for tens of millions of American citizens does not give any cover to the notion that this is an anti-terror operation. We can almost be thankful that the sense of the abusive and despotic potential for this trolling is heightened as it occurs under the present administration. This Bush administration has granted itself powers that contravene the balances and protections guaranteed by our Constitution. It has worked itself into the obscenely despotic caricature that tortures and also watches the Quakers as a threat.

It really should not come as much of a surprise that the bulk of the telephone companies gave this group of bullies what they wanted. Yahoo, Google and Microsoft have been more than glad to rollover for the far more odious Chinese. Qwest, a notable exception to the NSA arm-twisting, felt the full weight of governmental economic threats. Let us also speak to these companies in that language that will leave a lasting impression, money.

There have already been some filings in federal court against Verizon over this. I have not seen anything about the other companies. I personally have already contacted Verizon as my first step. I think every customer of BellSouth, AT&T and Verizon should be contacting their respective customer service office. And they should do it as often as it takes to get an answer to the many questions this operation raises. That is the first step.

Update: MarketWatch has reported that BellSouth is also being sued.  ¶ 5/14/2006 10:14:00 AM