Both Apple and Tim Cook personally have been sued by a conservative activist and three others as part of a class action lawsuit over alleged privacy violations resulting from the company’s supposed participation in the NSA’s PRISM intelligence program. Others who were also sued include President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, NSA Director Keith Alexander, the NSA itself, the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as Facebook, Google, YouTube, Microsoft, Skype, AOL, Yahoo, PalTalk, AT&T and Sprint -- and all the CEO's of those companies personally.
As one of the largest companies in the world, Apple is routinely sued over a wide variety of issues. This is easily pointed out by the many number of lawsuits they are involved in on an ongoing basis. The company has large legal teams to handle these lawsuits, though the sheer number of defendants in this case could make for interesting court filings.
Plaintiff Larry Klayman issued the following statement:
This isn’t the only class action lawsuit filed or planned over the PRISM disclosures. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has said that he will file a lawsuit against the Obama administration over what he says are “unconstitutional” surveillance programs. Paul wants to get the customers of all the offending companies to join a class action suit and take it to the U.S. Supreme Court. The American Civil Liberties Union has also filed a lawsuit, though it is focusing on the Government itself rather than the alleged corporate partners. The suit alleges that the Government’s tracking of phone records violates Section 215 of the Patriot Act.
It’s important to note that both Rand Paul and the ACLU are, at least to this point, primarily speaking out about Verizon Business Network Services giving call logs to the NSA for millions of calls both within the United States and abroad. However, both the Verizon/NSA issue and the Apple-related PRISM allegations were revealed around the same time last week and are largely seen as connected in the eyes of most critics.
What do you think of the whole ordeal?
It’s important to note that both Rand Paul and the ACLU are, at least to this point, primarily speaking out about Verizon Business Network Services giving call logs to the NSA for millions of calls both within the United States and abroad. However, both the Verizon/NSA issue and the Apple-related PRISM allegations were revealed around the same time last week and are largely seen as connected in the eyes of most critics.
What do you think of the whole ordeal?
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