" In February 2001, Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio says he was approached by NSA agents about establishing direct access to Qwest's call records without a FISA warrant. Nacchio declined, thinking the program was illegal. Subsequent leaks showed Qwest as the only phone company that declined to participate in the program. The retaliation was immediate: Nacchio says Qwest lost government contracts in the following months (although some contest this), and the business started to collapse. Just a few years later, Nacchio was brought up on insider trading charges, a prosecution he maintains was political payback. "
-- The Verge
Quest is now a brand mark of CenturyLink and the billions of dollars of assets were sold at firesale prices. CenturyLink is voluntarily participating in wholesale monitoring of phone and data traffic.
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