Verizon Responds to Shareholders' Concerns on User Data Verizon Communications has taken an aggressive stance against a proposed shareholder resolution that would require it to be more forthcoming about the customer information it shares with the government. Activist investors sent the resolution to Verizon and AT&T in November. AT&T said last week that it opposed the resolution, and Verizon has taken an even harder stance. Trillium Asset Management, an investment firm, which submitted the proposal to Verizon, demanded that the company publish reports on the information it hands over in response to government surveillance requests. In response, Verizon's lawyer said the company would skip a vote on the proposal if Trillium did not prove it was eligible to file the resolution in the first place. "The materials that Verizon has received from Trillium fail to establish that Trillium has the authority to submit the proposal," Verizon said in a letter dated Nov. 25 that Trillium provided on Thursday. Trillium has responded, detailing its eligibility to file the resolution. Verizon's preliminary response appears more aggressive than AT&T's. AT&T made a case to the Securities and Exchange Commission that the proposal should be removed from the ballot because shareholders should not control matters of "ordinary business operations." Verizon's response suggests that it could exclude the proposal without even asking the S.E.C. for permission. The typical path for removing a shareholder resolution from a ballot goes through the commission. It remains unclear whether Verizon will ask the S.E.C. to exclude the shareholder resolution from the ballot. The company has until Dec. 27 to seek the commission's permission to remove the resolution. Verizon said in a statement that it has not taken a formal position on the proposal. "The SEC requires shareholders to demonstrate their eligibility to submit a proposal," said Bob Varettoni, a Verizon spokesman. We've simply sought the information that we believe is necessary to determine the proponent's eligibility. This is a standard practice we follow with respect to every shareholder proposal we receive, regardless of the subject matter. In the last several months, AT&T and Verizon have come under scrutiny for their tight cooperation with government surveillance programs. A court order revealed that the Obama administration had secretly collected records for Verizon calls made between the United States and abroad, as well as calls within the United States. And in November, it was reported that the Central Intelligence Agency paid AT&T $10 million a year for access to its enormous database of phone records, including Americans" international phone calls. Technology giants like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, meanwhile, have published so-called transparency reports detailing the types of information they share with government agencies. This week they even started a campaign to set limits on government surveillance. Telecommunications companies like AT&T and Verizon have taken no such steps.