Verizon acknowledged that it provided data on customers at the request of the government 720 times without court orders or warrants in the past two years, while AT&T and Qwest declined to provide any information on whether or not they participated in the NSA surveillance program, which probably means they also did that.

"Indeed, we are not in a position even to confirm or deny the underlying facts or information that would be responsive to your request that would be considered classified," said AT&T vice-president and general counsel Wayne Watts, echoing the position of all three companies.

Responding by letter to requests by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the three companies defended themselves alleging "the law does not assign [telecommunications companies] the primary responsibility for policing government agencies" (AT&T). They allege, basically, that it's not their responsibility to verify the legality or necessity of the government's requests because their compliance could save lives in criminal investigations.

All three telecommunications companies face litigation relating to the information they did disclose to the government. To solve this problem, President Bush last Wednesday, when he called for Congress to make permanent the expansion of surveillance powers granted in August's Protect America Act, added that he would not sign any eavesdropping bill that does not grant retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies facing lawsuits. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) recognized before Bush's statement last week that Democrats may be willing to compromise on that front.

AT&T and Verizon are currently facing multiple lawsuits from several advocacy groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), who claim the surveillance program violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"There is an atmosphere of ambiguity which clouds this entire area," Rep. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, said in an interview with CNN. "Congress needs to know. The American people need to know what the Bush administration is doing in the name of the American people to its own citizens. And right now we don't know the answers."