Qwest, Cox do not give phone records to the Feds

A major brouhaha about the NSA warrantless wiretaps came in the astounding revelation today by USA Today that the Feds are collecting phone records from tens of millions of US citizens - with the complicity of three major telecom companies who have likely sold the data to the Feds:

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime.

...For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made — across town or across the country — to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.

It's an outrageous infringement. But in this article in the Phoenix Business Gazette today, there is some consolation that clients of Qwest and Cox in Arizona have been spared this Federal government intrusion, for now:

Neither of the two major telecommunications service providers in the Arizona market shared consumer and business customer information and telephone call data with the federal government as part of a widespread anti-terrorism surveillance and information gathering effort.

Meanwhile, as Democrats in Congress try to exercize their legal oversight responsibilities on this major issue, some Republicans are upset at the oversight:

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., is making national news today with his robust defense of the National Security Agency’s until-now secret collection of phone records of tens of millions of Americans.

Of course, the ramifications of this seem to be that, if Bush and Kyl get their way, the Feds will soon be collecting all of Arizonans' phone records, too.