what was the outcome of the hepting v. at&t case personal laws? course hero

by Raven Pfeffer Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago 4 min read

Hepting v. AT&T does not include the federal government as a party. In July 2006, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California —in which the suit was filed—rejected a federal government motion to dismiss the case.

No decision was reached, however In July, 2008, after a long and contentious battle in Congress, the government and AT&T were awarded the so-called retroactive immunity from liability under the controversial FISA Amendments Act (FAA), which was enacted in response to our court victories in Hepting.

Full Answer

When did the Supreme Court stop reviewing Hepting?

On October 9, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to review Hepting. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, however, vowed to continue working on a similar case, Jewel v. NSA .

When did the EFF motion to dismiss be filed?

The Justice Department filed its motion to dismiss on May 15, 2006.

What is the EFF lawsuit?

Hepting v. AT&T is a United States class action lawsuit filed in January 2006 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) against the telecommunications company AT&T, in which the EFF alleges that AT&T permitted and assisted the National Security Agency (NSA) in unlawfully monitoring the communications of the United States, including AT&T customers, businesses and third parties whose communications were routed through AT&T's network, as well as voice over IP telephone calls routed via the Internet .

Why did AT&T object to the filing of the documents supporting the case?

AT&T objected to the filing of the documents supporting the case on the grounds they were trade secrets or might compromise the security of its network. The EFF speculated that the federal government would invoke the state secrets privilege to bar the entire lawsuit from being heard, but added: "If state secrecy can prevent us from preserving the rights of millions upon millions of people, then there is a profound problem with the law."

When was the Electronic Frontier case dismissed?

The case was immediately appealed to the Ninth Circuit. It was dismissed on June 3, 2009, citing retroactive legislation in the FISA Amendments Act. On October 9, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to review Hepting. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, however, vowed to continue working on a similar case, Jewel v. NSA .

When was the FISA case dismissed?

The case was dismissed on June 3, 2009 by Judge Walker, citing retroactive legislation (section 802 of FISA) stating that

Is Hepting v. AT&T a federal case?

phone calls without warrants. Hepting v. AT&T does not include the federal government as a party. In July 2006, the United States District Court for the Northern District ...

Overview

Background and allegation

It is alleged in the lawsuit that in 2002-2003, AT&T permitted and assisted the NSA to install a NarusInsight system in its San Francisco switching center (Room 641A), which was capable of monitoring billions of bits of Internet traffic a second, including the playback of telephone calls routed on the Internet, and thus in effect spying upon the entirety of the communication of many or all Am…

Litigation

Related issues

• The American Civil Liberties Union has also sued the NSA for its wiretapping program, as well as drawing attention to federal government spying programs on "grassroots groups." See ACLU v. NSA and the web page on ACLU site.
• On February 5, 2006, USA Today ran a further story that, according to seven telecommunications executives, NSA had secured the cooperation of the main telecommunications companies in charge of international phone-calls, including AT&T, MCI

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External links

• The story, from Wired News
• Mark Klein's memo
• Unredacted version of Mark Klein's memo
• The lawsuit (PDF)