Markey renews calls for FCC investigation into wiretapping

House telecom subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) repeated his call for the Federal Communications Commission to investigate widespread allegations of telecom privacy law violations by intelligence agencies that received cooperation from telecom carriers in anti-terrorist surveillance efforts.
“More than a year ago, I asked [FCC] Chairman [Kevin] Martin to exercise his authority as the head of the independent agency responsible for the enforcement of our nation’s communications laws to investigate the very serious reports that the intelligence agencies were using telephone companies to obtain phone records illegally,” said Markey in his latest letter to the FCC chief. “The continued reports of government intelligence agencies running roughshod over telecommunications privacy laws make it clear that the FCC should not wait to initiate this investigation.”
After Markey wrote Martin in March to ask him to launch an investigation into whether telecom privacy laws have been broken, the FCC chairman wrote Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to verify that the agency could not conduct such a probe because it would violate federal laws governing disclosure of state secrets. Gonzales, who recently announced his resignation, has yet to respond to Martin.
Markey noted that in the interim the following events have transpired:
–A Federal Bureau of Investigation Inspector General report in a March found widespread misuse of “national security letters” in seeking telecommunications records.
–A federal judge struck down portions of the Patriot Act that authorized use of such national security letters.
–Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell publicly acknowledged that telecommunications carriers assisted the government in its surveillance work and were being sued as a result.
–The New York Times reported yesterday that the FBI’s probes went beyond targeted suspects by gathering information about a target’s “community of interest” as well.
“It is past time for the American people to learn the truth about alleged circumvention of important privacy laws. The FCC has a duty to help get to the bottom of what has transpired between the Bush Administration and our nation’s major telephone companies with regard to the disclosure of consumer telephone records and other personal data,” Markey said.