Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

The Guardian newspaper revealed exclusively on Wednesday that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has and continues to vacuum up millions of Verizon customer details, including information on phone calls both within the U.S. and between the U.S. and other countries.

Under the order, Verizon is ordered on an "ongoing, daily basis" to hand the NSA the information on all of the call data in its systems.

On Thursday, ZDNet obtained a copy of a note sent by Verizon chief counsel Randy Milch to employees. In the note, he did not confirm or deny the story, but in describing it as an "alleged" court order, he stressed that the text "forbids Verizon from revealing the order’s existence."

"If Verizon were to receive such an order, we would be required to comply,” just as any other company would be forced to.

Milch added that the company "continually takes steps to safeguard its customers’ privacy," but warned that the "law authorizes the federal courts to order a company to provide information in certain circumstances."