The Chicago Tribune reports that the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against AT&T on Monday charging it has invaded the privacy of Illinois customers by providing phone records to the federal government without a court order.
The Tribune story adds that ...
Several prominent local residents, including author Studs Terkel, agreed to serve as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which targets controversial domestic surveillance practices.
The ACLU seeks no money damages, only a court order to block AT&T from providing phone records to the National Security Agency without a judge's approval.
"When government uses the telephone companies to create massive databases of all our phone calls, it has gone too far," Terkel said in a prepared statement provided by the ACLU.
James Montgomery, a lawyer and former corporation counsel for the City of Chicago, said at a news conference that attorneys were among those who should be concerned. "Obviously, there will be a chilling effect on people calling lawyers," he said.
Other plaintiffs include Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) and Quentin Young, a physician and health-care advocate.
The ACLU is seeking to bring the suit as a class action on behalf of millions of AT&T customers statewide. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge James Zagel.