Many Iowans are kidding each other about having their phones tapped, in light of recent homeland security moves, but to many people, it’s not a laughing matter. Chris Hunt, a Midwest spokesman for Alltel, says his company’s customers don’t need to worry about Uncle Sam listening in.
Hunt says “We were not asked to provide any customer or phone records.” Recent reports said Verizon, A-T-and-T and BellSouth had complied with a National Security Agency request for tens of million of customer phone records, but Verizon and BellSouth now claim the records were not provided.
Hunt says Alltell didn’t hand over its records either. He says “We protect our customers’ information and our customers’ right to privacy.” Alltell provides wireless, local telephone, long-distance, Internet, and high-speed data services to residential and business customers.