Orlando Sentinel

12/29/05

In the days following revelations that the Bush administration ordered the National Security Agency to spy on domestic telephone and Internet communications without a court order, one involved party has remained silent. The nation's telephone giants -- which control the data pipelines -- have neither commented on nor denied their reported participation, nor have they reacted to the charge that they may have been complicit in violating privacy rights. But historically the telecom companies have cooperated with the government on wholesale wiretapping, and the Bush administration's anti-terrorism programs appear to be no exception. Without commenting directly on a classified topic, industry officials -- when asked -- suggested that they would not stand in the way of a request for help...

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Informant: Thomas L. Knapp