Following the Electronic Frontier Foundation's move to file a lawsuit against the National Security Agency and other government agencies on behalf of AT&T customers for unconstitutional dragnet surveillance of their communications, the Government decided to counter the process by seeking retroactive immunity.

According to a certification filed by Attorney General Mukasey on Friday night, specific information on content dragnet allegations and communication records allegations “cannot be disclosed on the public record without causing exceptional harm to national security.”

At the same time, while denying the allegations, Mukasey also wrote that the electronic communication service provider are entitled to statutory protection from pending civil actions, based on FISA Amendments Act that the Congress passed in July.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said they would be challenging the new law as unconstitutional in a hearing before federal judge Vaughn Walker, on December 2, 2008.

Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency and other government agencies to protest against the surveillance practices that they characterized as “illegal, unconstitutional and ongoing.”

In addition to that, “for years, the NSA has been engaged in a massive and massively illegal fishing expedition through AT&T's domestic networks and databases of customer records,” Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston said. “Our goal in this new case against the government, as in our case against AT&T, is to dismantle this dragnet surveillance program as soon as possible.”

EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn explained that demanding personal accountability from President Bush, Vice President Cheney and others responsible for NSA's dragnet surveillance is not only the best way to guarantee that such practices will not be tolerated in the future, but it is also a way of warning future occupants of the White House that if they violate American's privacy, there will be serious consequences.