Investors: AT&T and Verizon
must say how much customer data goes to NSA
Phone companies' customers could
switch networks if they feel their privacy is being compromised, say investment
funds
The Guardian, Thursday 21 November
2013 12.56 EST
Big investors in America's two
largest mobile phone companies have demanded they disclose how much customer
data they hand over to the US and foreign governments. Documents from the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden show AT&T
and Verizon have installed equipment
to copy, scan and filter large amounts of the traffic that passes through their
networks.
AT&T and Verizon
Communications, which owns Verizon Wireless, will face votes at their annual
shareholder meetings following formal requests from one of New York's biggest public sector pension
funds and a large private investment firm. The $161bn New York State Common
Retirement Fund, which manages the pensions of more than 1 million state
workers, and Trillium Asset Management, a Boston-based investment management
firm with $1.3bn under management, have lodged demands with both networks to
publish the number of requests they receive for customer information every six
months.
The investors said customers could
switch to other networks if they think their privacy has been compromised.
AT&T has also been warned that
its willingness to co-operate with state-sponsored surveillance could hamper
its ambitions to expand its business into Europe.
The company is reported to be considering a bid for Vodafone, the British-based
mobile network with outposts across Europe, Africa and Asia.
The Verizon chief executive,
Lowell McAdam, when asked about the company's legal obligations, recently
stated: "We are the largest telecommunications provider to the United States
government, and you have to do what your customer tells you."
A Verizon spokesman said:
"We've received the proposal and we're currently evaluating it." A
spokesman for AT&T stated: "As standard practice we look carefully at
all shareholder proposals but at this point in the process we do not expect to
comment on them."
National Security Agency (NSA)
Booz Allen
Hamilton is a contractor for the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Note: Edward Snowden was
an employee at Booz Allen Hamilton,
and leaked information about the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Keith B.
Alexander is a director at the National
Security Agency (NSA), and a friend of Barbara
G. Fast.
Barbara G. Fast
is a friend of Keith B. Alexander,
was a VP at the Boeing Company, and
a VP for the CGI Group Inc.
W. James
McNerney Jr. is the chairman & president & CEO for the Boeing Company, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago,
Members Directory
Please note: This link for the
members of the Commercial Club of Chicago can no longer be found.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Robert S. Osborne
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and the EVP & general counsel for Booz Allen Hamilton.
CGI Group Inc.
was the Obamacare contractor that
developed Healthcare.gov web site.
Obamacare
is Barack Obama’s signature policy
initiative.
Donna
S. Morea was the EVP for the CGI
Group Inc., and a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Committee for Economic Development, and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
George
Soros is the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Victor
A. Pelson was a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development, and the chairman of global operations for AT&T Inc.
Richard H. Davis
is a trustee at the Committee for
Economic Development, and was a Verizon
Communications Inc. client.
Laura D'Andrea
Tyson was a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and is a director at AT&T Inc.
Hugh
B. Price was a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and is a director at Verizon Communications Inc.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is an honorary
trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP,
Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is a lobby firm for AT&T Inc.
James
W. Cicconi was a partner at Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, is an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a senior
EVP for AT&T Inc.
Mayer
Brown is a lobby firm for AT&T
Inc.
Robert
A. Helman is a partner at Mayer
Brown, a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and was an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
William M.
Daley was a partner at Mayer Brown, the chief of staff for the Barack
Obama administration, and is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
William M. Daley
Professional career
Daley returned to the practice of
law, as a partner with the firm Mayer Brown (then Mayer, Brown & Platt)
from 1993 to 1997.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Valerie B. Jarrett
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s
great niece, and the senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration.
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