United Press International - NewsTrack - Lawyers: Data mining illegal

United Press International - NewsTrack - Lawyers: Data mining illegal

Lawyers: Data mining illegal

WASHINGTON, May 25 (UPI) -- Civil liberties lawyers say allowing the National Security Agency to collect millions of telephone records is likely to be illegal, although constitutional.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the reported data collection Tuesday without admitting it is taking place. He said the telephone records are "business records," which the Supreme Court ruled 27 years ago in Smith vs. Maryland do not have an expectation of privacy.

G. Jack King Jr. of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers told the Washington Post Gonzales is right on the Supreme Court decision. But King said the government could very well be violating the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which requires a court order for access to most telephone records.

"The government is bound by the laws Congress passes, and when the attorney general doesn't even mention them, it is symptomatic of the government's profound disrespect for the rule of law," said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies.