Here is my concern about the criminal liability. As wrong as it may be for the telecoms to have been wiretapping people, they did it at the behest of the government, who gave them the old "if you don't do it, people will die" stuff. Isn't it the height of gall for the government to ask a private company to engage in illegal activity for the sake of national security and then to criminally prosecute them once they do? More importantly, isn't this an iron-clad entrapment defense?
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/08/officia...