AT&T: We don't have to disclose NSA dealings

AT&T, under fire for ongoing revelations that it shares and sells customers' communications records to the National Security Agency and other US intelligence offices, says it isn't required to disclose to shareholders what it does with customers' data.

In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, AT&T said it protects customer information and complies with government requests for records "only to the extent required by law." AT&T's letter was a response to a shareholder revolt sparked on Nov 20 by the New York State Common Retirement Fund, the ACLU of Northern California and others. The groups are demanding that AT&T and Verizon be more transparent about their dealings with the NSA. In the letter, AT&T said information about assisting foreign intelligence surveillance activities is almost certainly classified. The company said it should not have to address the issue at its annual shareholders meeting in the spring of 2014. Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties policy director at the ACLU of Northern California said AT&T has overstepped its bounds. "It's outrageous that AT&T is trying to block the shareholder proposal," she said. "Customers have a right to know how often their private information is ending up in the government's hands."