AT&T won't say if it gave records to federal government (Missouri)

By Michael D. Sorkin
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/20/2006

.. Commissioner Steve Gaw of the Missouri Public Service Commission .... characterized the company's response as, "I'm not going to tell you."

The Public Service Commission regulates phone companies and other utilities. Gaw and Commissioner Robert Clayton say they are acting under state regulations requiring phone companies to protect the privacy of consumer records.

Gaw said he and Clayton .... asked what legal authority the phone company has to share records with the government, what kind of consumer records are involved, and whether the company is giving the government names, addresses, calling patterns, Social Security numbers or billing, credit card or e-mail records.

Gaw said .... "The bottom line is, I still don't have my answers."

An AT&T spokesman declined to say how many customers the company has in Missouri and Illinois. Last year, when it was still called SBC, the company had 2.2 million phone lines in Missouri.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/DCDC9D65C99A066986257174000BBA21?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22michael%22+AND+%22d.%22+AND+%22sorkin%22

Yes, we did.

But, either we have since realized that it was illegal, or we've decided that it would be bad publicitiy to admit that we did, so we won't tell you the truth.