State agency presses Verizon for clarification

AUGUSTA – Maine’s Public Advocate’s Office is asking Verizon to clarify earlier statements about whether it is sharing customer information with the federal government.

In a letter filed this week with the Public Utilities Commission, Deputy Public Advocate William Black said Verizon’s previous statements could be misleading without more information. The Office of the Public Advocate is a state agency that represents utility customers before the PUC.

The PUC is considering a complaint made by 22 Verizon customers in Maine who requested an investigation into whether the company is cooperating with the National Security Agency’s warrantless domestic wiretapping program.

Verizon issued two statements to the media about its role in the program, but Black wrote that the statements “incorporate words and phrases that are inherently vague and potentially misleading.”

The PUC this month ordered Verizon to verify the truth of its statements by Monday.

Verizon’s Maine spokesman would not say whether the company will comply with the order. Peter Reilly said Verizon had nothing to say on the issue beyond the two statements released in May.