Department of Homeland Security piggybacks on T-Mobile's SunCom buy

Here's an interesting little fact: because T-Mobile is foreign-owned (by Germany's Deutsche Telekom), several government agencies get all up in its business every time it makes an acquisition. Yes, of course, government agencies get their grubby paws in every acquisition here be it foreign or domestic, but the foreigners have it considerably worse. When DT completed the VoiceStream acquisition back in 2001 to form T-Mobile USA, the FBI and Department of Justice took their sweet time to make sure they'd have agreements in place that allowed them to monitor communications 24 hours a day at their leisure and discretion, and actually held up the FCC's approval until they had a signed deal with the company. Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has been thrust into prominence and wants in on the same luxuries its counterparts at the DOJ and FBI enjoy -- so yeah, you guessed it, they held up the SunCom deal until DT let them in on the action, too. Rumor has it T-Mobile wasn't too happy about the Department's demands, but when the rubber met the road, they chose wireless footprint over principles. Really, with the G Men already on board, what difference does it make? [Warning: PDF link]

[Via BetaNews, thanks oakie]