After reviewing papers from both sides of the NSA eavesdropping class-action lawsuit, Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California issued an order on Tuesday compelling AT&T, Verizon, Cingular, Sprint, and Bellsouth to maintain any and all data that may be of interest future discovery processes.

The ruling was proposed by the EFF, who expressed concern that routine business procedures would destroy crucial documents before the case reached the discovery phase.

AT&T already found itself in the spotlight when an employee tipped off the EFF to secret NSA routers in the company's San Francisco office.  Now the hunt is on for more of these secret optical junctions. 

Initially, a hearing was scheduled for November 15; however now Judge Vaughn’s docket indicates that the hearing was vacated per the November 6 order. The order instructs all named parties to retain all “documents, data and tangible things in the possession, custody and control of the parties to this action, and any employees, agents, contractors, carriers, bailees or other non-parties who possess materials reasonably anticipated to be subject to discovery in this action.”

Judge Vaughn’s order specifically addressed the danger of routine data purging, and the telcos are required to notify the courts in writing that the order has been carried out.

Both the telcos and the government opposed the EFF’s request. The government, in particular, has been vigorously opposing the lawsuit, claiming that the details involve secrets of national security, and it has repeatedly attempted to invoke the State Secrets Privilege to try and kill the suit.

While an order to compel the retention of interesting documents is a positive step and a victory for the EFF, it’s no guarantee that the class-action suit will make it to the discovery phase. With stiff resistance coming from both the government and the telecom industry, the EFF’s wiretapping class-action suit still has a long road ahead of it.