You Could Win Thousands of Dollars! Call NOW!

Did you know that you may be entitled to THOUSANDS of dollars in FREE MONEY?

That’s right! If you signed up for telephone or Internet service with a major telecommunications carrier any time after September 2001, you may be eligible for an award of more than TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!

THIS IS NOT A SCAM!

This is a bona fide legal claim that over 100 MILLION PEOPLE OR MORE may be entitled to.

But you need to act fast, because this offer may not last if you don’t CALL NOW!

What’s this all about?

In 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class action lawsuit in Federal Court against AT&T for conspiring with the National Security Agency (NSA), to illegally monitor the Internet and telephone traffic of AT&T’s customers.

The EFF lawsuit arose from news reports in December 2005, which first revealed that the NSA has been intercepting Americans’ phone calls and Internet communications without any court oversight and in violation of the privacy safeguards established by Congress and the U.S. Constitution. This surveillance program, purportedly authorized by the President at least as early as 2001, intercepts and analyzes the phone and Internet communications of millions of ordinary Americans.

But the government did not act-and is not acting-alone. EFF’s lawsuit alleges that AT&T has given the NSA unchecked backdoor access to its communications network and its record databases. On behalf of a nationwide class of AT&T customers, EFF is suing to stop this illegal conduct and hold AT&T responsible for violating the law and the fundamental freedoms of the American public.

This lawsuit, known as Hepting v. AT&T, is just one of many similar class action lawsuits filed against nearly every major US Telco carrier. Most of these suits have now been consolidated, along with Hepting, into one major legal action, which is being heard by Judge Walker in the Federal Court for the Northern District of California.

The list of companies being sued for helping the Bush Administration spy on millions of law-abiding Americans includes:

AT&T
AT&T Mobility
BellSouth
Cingular Wireless
Comcast
MCI
McLeod
Nextel
Sprint
T-Mobile
Transworld
Verizon

If you had telephone and/or Internet service with one of the above listed companies any time after September 2001, you are likely part of a class eligible to receive a substantial money damage award should EFF’s and others’ domestic spying lawsuits prove successful.

How much money are we talking about?

While the size of your damage award may vary depending on what state you live in, your carrier, and a host of other factors, as a guide let’s assume you, like 73 million other people, used AT&T for your phone or Internet service.  Here’s how much EFF says you may be entitled to:

EFF, on behalf of a nationwide class of AT&T customers, is suing to stop this illegal conduct and hold AT&T responsible for its illegal collaboration in the government’s domestic spying program, which has violated the law and damaged the fundamental freedoms of the American public. The lawsuit request an injunction and damages under the statute. The laws provide that the victims can receive damages of at least $21,000 for each affected person.

Notice that EFF says the law entitles subscribers to damages of at least 21,000, which means the final award per person could be even greater. Notice also that the law applies to “each affected person” – not each account.  This means that if your household has multiple users on the same account, each person may be entitled to a separate award.

The other Telco companies are in pretty much the same boat as AT&T, which also means that if you had different carriers for your phone and Internet, or if you changed carriers after Sept. 2001, you may be eligible to receive multiple awards.

Needless to say, any way you slice it, we’re talking real money.

What’s going on with the cases?

The domestic spying cases are currently on hold pending the outcome of an appeal by the Government and the Telcos of Judge Walker’s denial of their Motion to Dismiss based on state secrets immunity:

As Judge Walker wrote when dismissing AT&T’s immunity claims, “AT&T cannot seriously contend that a reasonable entity in its position could have believed that the alleged domestic dragnet was legal.” Judge Walker also flatly rejected the government’s secrecy argument: “The compromise between liberty and security remains a difficult one. But dismissing this case at the outset would sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security.”

Although the Appellate Court has yet to rule, during the appellate hearing all three Judges on the panel clearly appeared ready to reject the state secrets immunity argument, with one Judge even telling the Government’s lawyer during his presentation, “I feel like I’m in Alice in Wonderland”.

Assuming the Court rejects the Government’s appeal, the consolidated cases would then proceed to the next phase, where even more damning information about just what our Government and the Telcos have been up to is sure to come out.

So what’s the catch?

Of course, companies so flagrantly willing to illegally invade the privacy of millions of their own customers should not be expected to play fair when it comes to answering for their crimes.  Now that it appears the Appellate Court may be willing to let Hepting proceed, the Telcos are busily trying to short circuit the court process entirely by lobbying Congress to grant retroactive immunity for the illegal wiretapping of millions of Americans just like you.

A Congressional grant of retroactive immunity will virtually shut down the Hepting case.  If that happens, not only will we never know the full extent to which our own Government has been spying on us, but you will no longer be entitled to all of those thousands of dollars in damages the Telcos may otherwise owe you for handing your phone and Internet records over to George W. Bush.

****** Call NOW!!!! ******

It’s still not too late to preserve your claim to the thousands of dollars your privacy is legally worth – privacy that the Telcos intentionally stole from you.

Congress is currently debating a bill that would include retroactive immunity for the Telcos as part of a larger overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or FISA.

Call your Representative and Senators and tell them to vote NO on any FISA bill that includes retroactive immunity.

(To find the telephone numbers of your Congresspeople go here.)

****** Don’t Wait!!!  Call NOW!!!! ******

Because the money you win may be your own.

****** Call NOW!!!! ******

(x-posted at Hoot the Dark and Big Orange).