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By Stephanie Armour and Sharon Silke Carty, USA TODAY
The decision by major telecommunications companies to turn over phone records to the National Security Agency is having an impact on consumers. Some customers are calling phone companies to praise their actions, while others are posting angry comments online and vowing to switch services.
For example: • Online reactions. At www.thankyouqwest.org, visitors applaud Qwest for not turning over phone records and say they're dropping carriers that did. The site is an offshoot of Empire Burlesque, a blog created by Chris Floyd, an American-born author in Oxford, England, and Canadian Richard Kastelein, who runs the website in the Netherlands. Floyd, a frequent Bush administration critic, is author of Empire Burlesque: The Secret History of the Bush Regime. The thankyouqwest.org site is getting about 6,000 or more unique visits a day, according to its founders. It was created Thursday. • Appeals to consumers. Working Assets, a wireless, long-distance and credit card company that also focuses on liberal-leaning political activism, features a Web page with the slogan "Fight NSA Spying: Switch Your Phone to Working Assets." • E-mails and calls. AT&T has had "calls and e-mails from customers, but it's not been heavy," spokesman Walt Sharp said. He said the comments range from concern to commendation. Calls are now tapering off, Sharp said. Verizon spokesman Peter Thonis said that company has received a limited number of calls. He said customer service reps go over company privacy policies with callers. "The calls that have come in have been very mixed," he said. "Some have been concerns of privacy, others have been very supportive." Some phone customers say they are upset about the reports of the NSA collecting phone records. Alice Fulton, 53, a biochemistry professor from Iowa City who posted on thankyouqwest.org, said she wanted her carrier, Qwest, to know she's appreciative. "I'm very happy (with them). The Constitution protects me from this."
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