I'll Take Malkin's Check, Too

Kerry Howley | May 12, 2006

Peter Swire and Judd Legum look at the Stored Communications Act and ponder the possibility that, with the exception of some Qwest-lovin' islamofascists, we're all entitled to a fat check:

The penalty for violating the Stored Communications Act is $1000 per individual violation. Section 2707 of the Stored Communications Act gives a private right of action to any telephone customer "aggrieved by any violation." If the phone company acted with a "knowing or intentional state of mind," then the customer wins actual harm, attorney's fees, and "in no case shall a person entitled to recover receive less than the sum of $1,000."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is already suing AT&T for cooperating with the NSA's secret wiretapping programs; the Department of Justice claims that such matters are, you know, secret, and wants the case dismissed.