Qwest vs. NSA

Nod to Nacchio for "no" to NSA

'It pains me to say this, but perhaps no telecommunications executive has done more to protect American civil liberties than Joe Nacchio - an argument that bodes well for the former Qwest CEO in his upcoming trial on insider-trading charges.

Nacchio just said "no" when the U.S. National Security Agency demanded phone records of Qwest customers after the Sept. 11 attacks. Executives at AT&T Inc., BellSouth Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. did not have any such concern for customers' privacy.

"We've got to give Qwest some credit for this," said Qwest customer Al Kemp, 57, of Arvada. "They actually did the right thing for a change. ... I don't like Nacchio very much, but apparently he's the one who made this decision."