Bush sued for illegal surveillance program

“Our lawsuit today should send a clear warning to future occupants of the White House … If you break the law and violate Americans privacy, there will be consequences,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston today during conference call hosted by the EFF to announce a new lawsuit Jewel v. NSA, in their pursuit of stopping the Bush administration’s surveillance program.

Since 2006 the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have been representing AT&T customers in a class action lawsuit against the AT&T company for participating in the governments surveillance program assumed authorized by President George Bush and implemented by the National Security Agency (NSA). The Jewel v. NSA lawsuit is focusing on President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Cheney’s chief of staff David Addington, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and a range of NSA officials.

The plaintiff represents nation wide phone and internet AT&T subscribers, claiming the surveillance violates the Constitution along with several laws. According to EFF, the goal is to end the nation wide spying network, demanding all copies of information that has been illegally collected from customers, being destroyed. “Today we’ve opened a second front in our battle to stop the NSA illegal surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans,” Bankston said.