This page collects information for a general audience related to EFF's class action lawsuit against AT&T.
In Hepting v. AT&T, EFF sued the telecommunications giant on behalf of its customers for violating privacy law by collaborating with the NSA in the massive, illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans’ communications.
Evidence in the case includes undisputed evidenceprovided 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.
In June of 2009, a federal judge dismissed Hepting and dozens of other lawsuits against telecoms, ruling that the companies had immunity from liability under the controversial FISA Amendments Act (FISAAA), which was enacted in response to our court victories in Hepting. Signed by President Bush in 2008, the FISAAA allows the Attorney General to require the dismissal of the lawsuits over the telecoms' participation in the warrantless surveillance program if the government secretly certifies to the court that the surveillance did not occur, was legal, or was authorized by the president -- certification that was filed in September of 2008. EFF is planning to appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, primarily arguing that FISAAA is unconstitutional in granting to the president broad discretion to block the courts from considering the core constitutional privacy claims of millions of Americans.
Press Contact
For press inquiries only, email press@eff.org or phone 415.436.9333 x125.
Key Resources
More on Hepting:
- Legal Documents related to EFF's case against AT&T.
- FAQ on the case against AT&T
- Mark Klein's evidence and testimony
- Archive of Documents Used by EFF to Lobby Against Telco Immunity in 2007, 2008
- Evidence One-Pager [PDF] — Summarizing the technical evidence of AT&T's complicity.
