Judge won't drop AT&T eavesdropping lawsuit

Jul 20, 3:13 PM (ET)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal judge declined motions on Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit against AT&T alleging the firm illegally allowed the U.S. government to monitor phone conversations and e-mail communications.

AT&T asked the court in late April to dismiss the case, and two weeks later the U.S. government also asked the federal judge to dismiss it because of the secrecy of the issue.
In a 72-page ruling on Thursday, Judge Vaughn Walker rejected that filing in a case that has raised further attention to the domestic spying program acknowledged by President George W. Bush.

"The very subject matter of this action is hardly a secret," the judge wrote. "Public disclosures by the government and AT&T indicate that AT&T is assisting the government to implement some kind of surveillance program."

The privacy rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation says the program allows the government to eavesdrop on phone calls and read e-mails of millions of Americans without obtaining warrants. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction that would order the government to stop the program.

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