Trials & Litigation
Why a Computer Engineer Sued Over Government’s Spy Program
Posted Mar 6, 2008, 07:02 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A 35-year-old computer engineer says he decided to sue over the government’s warrantless surveillance program because of the experiences of his father, a former short-wave radio enthusiast.
Tash Hepting is a customer of AT&T, the company he sued with the help of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The action claims the telecom illegally helped the government examine large amounts of data as it searched for usage patterns and content that could be used to identify terrorists.
Hepting told the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) that the government notified his father, Rick Hepting, that it was reading his mail because of his contact with a Chinese radio station through his short-wave activities. The radio station acknowledged the contact, and then Rick Hepting began receiving communist propaganda.
The younger Hepting says his father’s experience taught him that “something completely innocuous and innocent can get you monitored and surveilled by the government."
He bristles at suggestions the AT&T suit and 37 others against telecoms are being pursued by greedy trial lawyers. The administration is backing a bill that would give the telecoms legal immunity.
"I'm not a trial lawyer. I'm not in this to make a lot of money. I'm in this to make a principled stand," he told the publication.
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