Utah Free Press

AT&T, Bell South Save Tax $ in NSA Scandal

Lawyers want $200 million!

Originally published May 17th, 2006 by Richard Okelberry

I am really at a loss for words about the controversy surrounding AT&T and Bell South turning over phone records to the NSA. First, I always assumed that the government was always involved in tracking phone call patterns. Maybe, what really has everyone so upset is the fact that the government wasn’t paying for it the way everyone else does. It’s a fact, we live in a data collection age and everything from your phone calls to your medical records are for sale for a price, as long as your name and other identifiable information isn’t included.

How do you think the government collects data on say cancer rates nation wide? Have any of you ever been asked about your cancer experience in a phone survey? Of course not! Your doctor hands those kinds of records over whenever needed and just removes your name. Same thing happens with your phone and internet use. This information is compiled and analyzed by very smart people who help determine better network upgrades, high volume routing systems and the like. And yes, it even winds up in the hands of marketers, who turn it into valuable demographic information.

For instance, they can tell when most of you are home by watch call volumes alone. Why call and try to sell something to you or run something on TV if your not there right? Now stop and think. When was the last time even one of you complained about it? For that matter, when was the last time any of you read your ‘Privacy Statement’ from your bank or credit card company? Worse, how many of you have ever filed in the ‘Opt out’ form and sent it back to have your info guarded from such data collection? I bet near to none. But when the government does the very same thing, people start freaking out.

Maybe what the politicians are really worried about in this case is the fact that these companies gave the information for free, saving taxpayers untold millions in fees. Keep this in mind if you ever have to sit on a jury for one of the upcoming $200 million dollar lawsuits against these companies that are doing us a favor.