Poll: Most Oppose Immunity for Phone Companies Selling Info to US

By John Godfrey and Corey Boles
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A majority of likely voters in the U.S. oppose giving immunity to telephone companies who sold customer information to the government, according to a survey released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Telephone company advocates in Congress and the Bush administration say that if telephone companies handed over information to the government, or allowed warrantless wiretaps, it was only in response to the nation's emergency needs in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

But ACLU's senior legislative counsel Tim Sparapani said money may have been the motivation and most Americans aren't happy.

According to the ACLU survey of 1,000 likely voters, 59% were either opposed or strongly opposed to the idea of giving companies that sold such information to the government civil or criminal immunity, even if that information was used to "investigate terrorism."

About 31% of those surveyed said they supported or strongly supported giving such amnesty, with the remaining percentage of voters saying they were undecided.

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