The company has been caught in a tempest since USA Today reported last
week that AT&T, Verizon Communications and BellSouth agreed to turn
over millions of phone records to the National Security Agency after the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
An attorney for the former head of Qwest Communications has said he
rebuffed such requests despite being asked repeatedly. Verizon was sued
Friday in federal court in New York by two New Jersey attorneys, who
asserted violations of civil liberties. One of the attorneys said Monday
he was considering a suit against BellSouth.
BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher said Monday that the company had, in
the days since the report, conducted a review of the allegations.
Ackerman, Battcher said, did not approve an NSA request to give out
records.
"We can find no instances where Mr. Ackerman has been asked to
give any information to the NSA," Battcher said. "He has not
signed off on it because he's never been asked."
In fact, Battcher said the company was not aware it had received any
requests from the NSA. "To the best of our knowledge, we cannot find
where we've ever gotten a request," he said.
In a prepared statement, BellSouth said it had investigated reports
that the company gave out "massive amounts of customer calling
information under a contract with the NSA," as reported Thursday by
USA Today.
"Based on our review to date, we have confirmed no such contract
exists and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA,"
BellSouth said Monday. "BellSouth has built a successful business
because of the trust that our customers have placed with us. We will
continue to take our obligations to our customers seriously."
Ackerman holds significant, high-level roles in advising the
government. He chairs the National Security Telecommunications Advisory
Committee and is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
BellSouth's rebuttal adds another twist to a still-developing story.
But it does not mean the overall gist of USA Today's account — that a
huge database was collected — is incorrect.
Indeed, BellSouth is a different kind of carrier than AT&T, Verizon
and Qwest in a crucial way: BellSouth does not own an international or
nationwide long-distance network. When a caller in, say, Atlanta dials
someone in Seattle, the call travels mostly over non-BellSouth lines. To
obtain a record of such a call, the NSA would not need BellSouth. They
could get it from the owner of the network, such as AT&T.
Experts believe that violations of privacy rights could bring penalties
of $1,000 per instance.
Generally speaking, phone records may not be released except in limited
circumstances. Ohio State University law professor Peter Swire writes in a
recent analysis that there are five exceptions, including in cases when
investigators have a warrant, a court order or consent of the customer.
These rules give officials the right to ask for records of a specific
person who is believed to be involved in a crime, for example.
In the NSA program, it is believed, the agency assembled a database to
search for calling patterns. The goal was to detect terrorist activity,
but critics say it may have been illegal for the phone companies to
cooperate.
"It's hard to see any of those exceptions applying here,"
said Swire, who served as chief counselor for privacy during the
administration of President Bill Clinton.
Given the large number of records that may be involved, Swire expects
to see many lawsuits.
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy
Information Center and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's law
school, said the government should follow the law when it is seeking
information. A government request isn't enough to protect phone companies
from legal action.
"Telephone companies have a fundamental obligation to protect the
privacy of their customers," he said.
The Bush administration has come under intense criticism in the wake of
the disclosures. The fallout could play a big role in the confirmation
hearings of Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, whom President Bush has
nominated to be director of the CIA. Hayden formerly ran the NSA.
AT&T and Verizon on Monday stuck by previously issued statements
about the reports. Verizon said Friday that it "cannot comment on
that program, nor can we confirm or deny whether we have had any
relationship to it." The company said there had been "factual
errors" in news coverage.
"Verizon does not, and will not, provide any government agency
unfettered access to our customer records or provide information to the
government under circumstances that would allow a fishing
expedition," the company said.
AT&T said last week it had "a long history of vigorously
protecting customer privacy" but also had "an obligation to
assist law enforcement and other government agencies responsible for
protecting the public welfare."
The Associated Press contributed to this article.