BellSouth: NSA story is bogus

According to CNN.com, BellSouth is demanding that USA Today retract its call-log story:

[BellSouth] sent a letter to USA Today on Thursday asking it to retract last week’s story that BellSouth and two other companies helped the NSA compile a massive database of records on domestic phone calls.

It’s disgusting that USA Today would dare publish a story that’s actually true! We can’t have that: The people might actually get upset! (Though they haven’t yet.)

BellSouth faxed the letter to the attention of Craig Moon, the newspaper’s president and publisher, and its general counsel, BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher said. The letter calls for the paper to retract the “false and unsubstantiated statements the paper made regarding BellSouth.”

Everything that harms a company in bed with the government and said government is “false and unsubstantiated.” We can’t allow either to be portrayed accurately: The people might actually stop supporting them! (The world would end were that to happen.)

“We did receive the letter this afternoon. We’re reviewing it, and will be responding,” said USA Today spokesman Steve Anderson.

Earlier this week, USA Today said it stands by its story, but that it would investigate the denials issued by BellSouth and Verizon.

USA Today, don’t you dare drop the call-logging story down the memory hole, or there will be a backlash like you never imagined!

AT&T, the third company named in the article, has not denied the story outright, but said it would not provide such information without legal authorization.

Either AT&T did or didn’t pony up the information to Washington; there’s no middle ground on the issue. (And what did they mean by “legal authorization”?)

USA Today reported that the NSA doesn’t record or listen to conversations. Rather, the article said, the agency uses the data—including phone numbers, times and locations—to look for patterns that might suggest terrorist activity.

If I’m doing nothing wrong, the government has no cause to watch me.

The Bush administration has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a program.

Silence can be a rather strong admission of guilt.

[+] Add to your del.icio.us.