Whether or not phone carriers disclosed customer records to the National Security Agency will be the topic of a state House Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce meeting next month at the state Capitol. The exact time and date of
Whether or not phone carriers disclosed customer records to the National Security Agency will be the topic of a state House Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce meeting next month at the state Capitol.
The exact time and date of the meeting has not been set yet.
“We think this a serious consumer issue,” said committee vice chair Rep. Brian Schatz, D-Tantalus, Makiki, McCully.
Schatz wants to know what is going on in the state.
“Hawai‘i’s citizens are sensitive to potential invasions of their privacy,” he said. “At this stage, it is important to gather information so citizens know whether or not their privacy has been invaded.”
Schatz, whose committee oversees telecommunications, said that though Hawai‘i’s constitution contains explicit right-to-privacy wording, they are operating in the dark without sufficient information.
He said it may be that the NSA wiretapping program affected Hawai‘i customers, and maybe it didn’t.
“People deserve to know whether or not their phone conversations are being surveillanced without a warrant,” Schatz said.
He said the state’s Public Utilities Commission is taking his request about phone tapping seriously.
“They are inquiring of all phone carriers whether or not they disclosed phone records of Hawai‘i citizens,” said Schatz.
John Cole, the state’s consumer advocate, said the commission will ask phone carriers to attend the meeting.
“I stick up for consumers on utilities issues, whether it is electricity or telecommunications or other utilities that are regulated,” he said.
In a June 6 letter to Schatz, the PUC said it will be contacting telecommunications carriers to see if they have been contacted by the NSA and if so, whether they granted the NSA direct access to their telephone call records.
“Thereafter, based on the telecommunications carriers’ responses, the commission will determine whether it will conduct further investigation into possible violations of law or rules and regulations,” PUC chairman Carlito P. Caliboso said in the letter.
Schatz’s inquiry came about after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on Jan. 17 against the NSA in an effort to end the Bush administration’s alleged illegal spying on Americans.
According to the ACLU, the NSA’s secret electronic surveillance program has been in place since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The ACLU claims the illegal NSA spying program was authorized by President Bush to allow the NSA to intercept international telephone and Internet communications of Americans without court approval.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan. The ACLU seeks a court order declaring the NSA spying illegal and wants an immediate and permanent halt.
In the legal complaint filed, the ACLU said the spying program violates Americans’ rights to free speech and privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
• Cynthia Kaneshiro, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or ckaneshiro@kauaipubco.com.
