Update on Domestic Spying

Ouch!

In a note to readers, USA Today has backed off an earlier assertion that BellSouth and Verizon had contracted to provide telephone calling records to the National Security Agency for its secret domestic spying program.

BellSouth and Verizon have since denied participation in the program. AT&T has declined to comment on the matter.

Said the newspaper:

Based on its reporting after the May 11 article, USA Today has now concluded that while the N.S.A. has built a massive domestic calls record database involving the domestic call records of telecommunications companies, the newspaper cannot confirm that BellSouth or Verizon contracted with the N.S.A. to provide bulk calling records to that database.