AT&T Forwards ALL Internet Traffic Into NSA Says EFF

[AGENDA21]

San Francisco – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Wednesday filed the legal briefs and evidence supporting its motion for a preliminary injunction in its class-action lawsuit against AT&T. After asking EFF to hold back the documents so that it could review them, the Department of Justice consented to EFF's filing them under seal — a well-established procedure that prohibits public access and permits only the judge and the litigants to see the evidence. While not a party to the case, the government was concerned that even this procedure would not provide sufficient security and has represented to the Court that it is "presently considering whether and, if so, how it will participate in this case."

"The evidence that we are filing supports our claim that AT&T is diverting Internet traffic into the hands of the NSA wholesale, in violation of federal wiretapping laws and the Fourth Amendment," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "More than just threatening individuals' privacy, AT&T's apparent choice to give the government secret, direct access to millions of ordinary Americans' Internet communications is a threat to the Constitution itself. We are asking the Court to put a stop to it now."

EFF's evidence regarding AT&T's dragnet surveillance of its networks includes a declaration by Mark Klein, a retired AT&T telecommunications technician, and several internal AT&T documents. This evidence was bolstered and explained by the expert opinion of J. Scott Marcus, who served as Senior Technical Advisor for Internet Technology to the Federal Communications Commission from July 2001 until July 2005.

The internal AT&T documents and portions of the supporting declarations have been submitted to the Court under a tentative seal, a procedure that allows AT&T five court days to explain to the Court why the information should be kept from the public.

http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/20060406031301790

[marmar]

1. Boy am I glad I dropped Worldnet....

Even though I'm sure my ISP is doing the same thing!!! :scared:

[seabeyond]

2. at &t took over phone in dec. they misapplied payment shut off phone

then didnt apply payment and threatened. leaving me with turn on fees adn hours of frustration and two employees hanging up on me. i hate this company. we bought a business and they were chargin 24 lines and we had one 8 active. i didnt pay, they did nothing, obviously knowing they were flat out stealing.

i hate this company

two decades not a problem with phone. as soon as they bought, htey started stealing money. we arent hooked up with internet, but when we have time, we are dumping this company

[formercia]

3. AT&T has always cooperated with the Government

Even in the good old days of POTS(plain old telephone service), AT&T has given access to its communications networks, so this is just a continuation of a pre-existing policy.

[AndyA]

4. I would recommend people drop AT&T

but with corporate buy outs, there's not much competition left.

I hate AT&T. I got rid of my wireless service with them, then cancelled my long distance. Yet they kept billing me for long distance, even though I hadn't made any long distance calls through them. I finally had to file a complaint with the FCC to get them to leave me alone.

People must stop doing business with corporate entities that violate our civil rights and liberties.

AT&T is getting too big again.

[Gman]

5. I wonder how much of this is pre and/or post SBC merger

If it is pre-merger, this is just another reason why SBC made a colassal mistake renaming SBC to AT&T. The AT&T name was synonymous with cramming, slamming, dishonesty, lying, cheating and stealing. But the brass at SBC says, "Ooooh... focus groups said it was a good idea". Such group-thinking mindlessness will be SBC's downfall within five years.

[Supersedeas]

6. This is just disgusting.

[Joe Fields]

7. This is not only disgusting, but highly illegal and MUST be stopped!