Internet E-mail Providers Refuse To Tell Their Pay-To-Spy Policies

Internet e-mail providers are refusing to provide the details about policies concerning how much they charge taxpayers for the government’s spying on users.

 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Internet e-mail providers are refusing to provide the details about policies concerning how much they charge taxpayers for the government’s spying on users.

In a 12-page letter, lawyers for Yahoo! told the U.S. Marshals Service that disclosing such information would “shock” its customers and “shame” the company.

Verizon’s lawyers said that devulging such details would be “confusing” and “stretch limited resources, especially those that are reserved only for law enforcement emergencies.”

Verizon also indicated that its customers would tie up its lines seeking information about whether they themselves had been tapped.

Muckraker Christopher Soghoian explained that he filed Freedom of Information requests this past summer in order to know the frequency in which firms gave the government their customers’ private information.

Criticizing the responses, Soghoian said, “Assuming a conservative estimate of 20,000 requests per year, Verizon alone receives more requests from law enforcement per year than can be explained by any published surveillance statistics, That doesn’t mean the published stats are necessarily incorrect — merely that most types of surveillance are not reported.”

However, Soghoian found that Cox Communications charges $2,500 to fulfill a pen register/trap-and-trace order for 60 days, and $2,000 for each additional 60-day-interval.

“It charges $3,500 for the first 30 days of a wiretap, and $2,500 for each additional 30 days. Thirty days worth of a customer’s call detail records costs $40,” Cox’s lawyer noted.