E-privacy group sues AT&T for opening database to NSA domestic wiretaps News
E-privacy group sues AT&T for opening database to NSA domestic wiretaps

[JURIST] Digital free speech group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) [advocacy website] has initiated a class-action lawsuit [press release] against AT&T [corporate website] on behalf of California plaintiffs alleging that the company violated their right to privacy as well as several federal statutes when it allowed the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website] to use its infrastructure to wiretap US citizens. A December Los Angeles Times article [text] quoted an official source as saying that AT&T had provided the NSA access to a 300 terabyte database that stores caller information on every domestic call placed in the US through their infrastructure. An EFF staff attorney anticipates that the government will intervene on AT&T's behalf to support the controversial NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. Read the EFF complaint [text, PDF] and the EFF case backgrounder. CNET has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.