The Electronic Frontier Foundation defends Americans

There's more drama around the attempts by the current administration to protect people who might have spied illegally on everyday American citizens.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is out there, fighting the good fight to protect Americans. A summary of the current drama can be found here.

Please note that this kind of wiretapping is not intended to defend Americans. We know that because sufficient legal mechanisms already exist, and because this kind of wiretapping was requested before the administration was interested in counter-terrorism. Check out the court testimony and documents here:

Recent revelations about former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio's classified-information defense, which went unheard during his insider-trading trial, are feeding the furor over the government's warrantless-wiretapping program.

Nacchio alleges the National Security Agency asked Qwest to participate in a program the phone company thought was illegal more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to court documents unsealed at the request of The Denver Post.

Nacchio also maintains that when he refused to participate, the government retaliated by not awarding lucrative contracts to Qwest.

Previously sealed transcripts released at the same time as the court documents indicate the government was prepared to counter Nacchio's claims.

The recently unsealed documents push that time frame back to February 2001 and indicate the NSA may have also sought to monitor customers' Internet traffic and fax transmissions.