Due to recent reports that providers Verizon, AT&T and BellSouth turned over millions of US phone records to the National Secutiry Agency (NSA) starting in 2004, two New Jersey public interest lawyers Bruce Afran and Carl Mayer filed a huge lawsuit against the former citing that they breached several privacy laws. If the court goes with Afran and Mayer it would not only cost Verizon but the other two companies billions of dollars - five billion to be exact.

The lawsuit asks the court to stop Verizon and the rest from turning over any more records to the NSA without a warrant or consent of the subscriber. All three companies confirm nor deny their actions, saying it's secret federal information. Mr. Afran said: "this is the largest and most vast intrusion of civil liberties we've ever seen in the United States."

Verizon had the following to say about the recent reports: "Verizon does not, and will not, provide any government agency unfettered access to our customer records or provide information to the government under circumstances that would allow a fishing expedition."

Additionally, a recent poll tells us that 53% of all Americans were against the companies handing over the records, and agree it's a major privacy breach.