A big announcement today from those of us at the EFF regarding the NSA illegal wiretap scandal. We have filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T because we have reason to believe they have provided the NSA and possibly other agencies with access to not only their lines but also their “Daytona” database, which contains the call and internet records of AT&T customers, and probably the customers of other carriers who outsource database services to Daytona.

AT&T, we allege, gave access to this database when it should have told the federal agents to come back with a warrant. This is the communications records of not just people phoning Al-Qaida. It’s the records of millions of ordinary Americans.

Allowing access to these records without a warrant is both a violation of the law and a violation of their duties to protect the privacy of their customers. Worse, we believe AT&T may still be doing it.

We’re asking the court to make AT&T stop giving the NSA or others access without proper warrants, and to exact penalties for having done so. The potential penalties are very, very large. We want to send a message to carriers and operators like AT&T that they have a duty to follow the law and protect their customers.

You can read more at our AT&T wiretap lawsuit page.