With news breaking nationally of alleged tapping of Verizon cell phone and data customers by the National Security Agency, a provider of long-distance communications in Alaska is saying they cooperate with Federal subpoenas – but won’t say if a little known process allows the government to get at Alaskan’s private information on their network.
The largest independent provider of wireless, land line and Internet service in Alaska, GCI, said this week that while the company works with the government when subpoenas or other warrants are issued by Federal, State or local courts, they could not comment on whether FISA, or Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants had been acted upon.
“We’re just not in a position to be able to comment on anything specifically,” said GCI vice president David Morris. “When you’re talking about a legal question and inquiry, a publicly-traded company can’t comment unless there is something like a subpoena that is legally binding,”
FISA warrants are issued by special Federal courts and are held behind closed doors, usually with only the Federal Bureau of Investigation providing evidence seeking to establish a wiretap or other surveillance on a subject or group.
Hearings in FISA cases are closed to public viewing and records of court testimony and decisions are classified.
Morris did add, however, that GCI has complied with other warrants issued by courts in the state, going back more than two decades.
“If we receive a subpoena, we’ll go ahead and comply with the orders,” Morris added. “We’ve been doing that since GCI started providing long-distance telephone service in 1982.”
An FBI spokesperson for Alaska, special agent Eric Gonzalez, told the Sentinel his office had no comment.
“We’re not commenting on the NSA story in terms of anything to do with Alaska,” Gonzalez said.
Senator Lisa Murkowski also released a statement this week on the NSA issue, saying she was concerned about the privacy issues of Alaskans.
“I challenged the Bush administration when I believed it crossed the lines on our privacy rights, and I remain concerned about the Obama administration’s apparent expansion of many Bush policies,” Sen. Murkowski said. “The White House’s carefully-worded, legalistic response to this revelation has a lot of qualifiers and vague language, but their message boils down to ‘trust us.’ That’s not good enough for law-abiding Alaskans who don’t want their phone logs or Internet records sitting on a DC desk being looked over by a federal bureaucrat, and I look forward to a thorough vetting of this policy.”
Alaska Power & Telephone was contacted for this story but did respond by deadline.
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