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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Shawn Jain, 202-417-7547, media@aclu.org

ACLU Comment on Justice Department Subpoenas of AP Phone Records

NEW YORK

The Department of Justice secretly obtained two months' worth of phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors, according to an AP story.

The following statement can be attributed to Laura W. Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office:

"The media's purpose is to keep the public informed and it should be free to do so without the threat of unwarranted surveillance. The Attorney General must explain the Justice Department's actions to the public so that we can make sure this kind of press intimidation does not happen again."

The following statement can be attributed to Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project:

"Obtaining a broad range of telephone records in order to ferret out a government leaker is an unacceptable abuse of power. Freedom of the press is a pillar of our democracy, and that freedom often depends on confidential communications between reporters and their sources."

This statement is available at:
aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/justice-department-secretly-subpoenas-ap-phone-records

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

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