The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies on behalf of AT&T customers to stop what it alleges as illegal, unconstitutional, and ongoing dragnet surveillance of their communications and communications records.
The lawsuit also includes President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney’s chief of staff David Addington, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and other individuals who ordered or participated in the alleged warrantless domestic surveillance.
According to EFF, the lawsuit, Jewel v. NSA , aims at ending the NSA’s dragnet surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans and holding accountable the government officials who illegally authorized it. Evidence in the case includes undisputed documents provided by former AT&T telecommunications technician Mark Klein showing AT&T has routed copies of Internet traffic to a secret room in San Francisco controlled by the NSA.
