Investors: AT&T and Verizon must say how much customer data goes to NSA

Phone companies' customers could switch networks if they feel their privacy is being compromised, say investment funds

Big investors in America's two largest mobile phone companies have demanded they disclose how much customer data they hand over to the US and foreign governments. Documents from the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden show AT&T and Verizon have installed equipment to copy, scan and filter large amounts of the traffic that passes through their networks.

AT&T and Verizon Communications, which owns Verizon Wireless, will face votes at their annual shareholder meetings following formal requests from one of New York's biggest public sector pension funds and a large private investment firm. The $161bn New York State Common Retirement Fund, which manages the pensions of more than 1 million state workers, and Trillium Asset Management, a Boston-based investment management firm with $1.3bn under management, havelodged demands with both networks to publish the number of requests they receive for customer information every six months.

The investors said customers could switch to other networks if they think their privacy has been compromised.

AT&T has also been warned that its willingness to co-operate with state-sponsored surveillance could hamper its ambitions to expand its business into Europe. The company is reported to be considering a bid for Vodafone, the British-based mobile network with outposts across Europe, Africa and Asia.

The Verizon chief executive, Lowell McAdam, when asked about the company's legal obligations, recently stated: "We are the largest telecommunications provider to the United States government, and you have to do what your customer tells you."

A Verizon spokesman said: "We've received the proposal and we're currently evaluating it." A spokesman for AT&T stated: "As standard practice we look carefully at all shareholder proposals but at this point in the process we do not expect to comment on them."

Article Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk
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