DoJ admits: telcos are an arm of the government [Telecom]

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Telephone Company Is Arm of Government, Feds Admit in Spy Suit By Ryan Singel WIRED October 8, 2009 8:24 pm

The Department of Justice has finally admitted it in court papers: The nation's telecom companies are an arm of the government - at least when it comes to secret spying.

Fortunately, a judge says that relationship isn't enough to squash a rights group's open records request for communications between the nation's telecoms and the feds.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation wanted to see what role telecom lobbying of Justice Department played when the government began its year-long, and ultimately successful, push to win retroactive immunity for AT&T and others being sued for unlawfully spying on American citizens.

WIRED article continues here: