Whistle-Blower Outs NSA Spy Room

[kpete]

If this lawsuit is true, it likely constitutes the largest mass invasion of privacy in American history.

Whistle-Blower Outs NSA Spy Room

11:15 AM Apr, 07, 2006

AT&T provided National Security Agency eavesdroppers with full access to its customers' phone calls, and shunted its customers' internet traffic to data-mining equipment installed in a secret room in its San Francisco switching center, according to a former AT&T worker cooperating in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit against the company.

Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, submitted an affidavit in support of the EFF's lawsuit this week. That class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco last January, alleges that AT&T violated federal and state laws by surreptitiously allowing the government to monitor phone and internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants.

On Wednesday, the EFF asked the court to issue an injunction prohibiting AT&T from continuing the alleged wiretapping, and filed a number of documents under seal, including three AT&T documents that purportedly explain how the wiretapping system works.

According to a statement released by Klein's attorney, an NSA agent showed up at the San Francisco switching center in 2002 to interview a management-level technician for a special job. In January 2003, Klein observed a new room being built adjacent to the room housing AT&T's #4ESS switching equipment, which is responsible for routing long distance and international calls.

"I learned that the person whom the NSA interviewed for the secret job was the person working to install equipment in this room," Klein wrote. "The regular technician work force was not allowed in the room."

more at:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/1,70619-0.html
via:http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/04/att-allegedly-gave-nsa-access-to-all.html

[Eric J in MN]

1. Is the government storing every internet message sent through AT & T?

nt

[file83]

23. "Yes, we are doing that, Eric."

[stop the bleeding]

2. Remarkable development

thank you

[kpete]

9. i Thought it especially interesting in light of this:

WASHINGTON, April 6 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales suggested on Thursday for the first time that the president might have the legal authority to order wiretapping without a warrant on communications between Americans that occur exclusively within the United States.

"I'm not going to rule it out," Mr. Gonzales said when asked about that possibility at a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/washington/07nsa.html

[stop the bleeding]

16. Yep I heard the audio of it off of NPR yesterday

Remember what the door mouse said...... we are way deep in the Rabbit hole

[ClintonTyree]

3. They're just looking for terrorists.....

they would NEVER spy on regular, everyday Americans. Honest! :sarcasm:

[Flabbergasted]

4. One word In-Q-Tel! Look it up!

[Beelzebud]

7. Holy shit i had never heard of that! They are totally open about

being totally fascist.... Merger of state and corporate power is applauded right there on those fucking webpages...

[Flabbergasted]

8. It gets worse NASA and the Army have the same thing. So does Britain.

[mhr]

25. In-Q-Tel Informative Link

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/inqtel/

[worldgonekrazy]

35. Amazing!

The CIA just comes right out and says that In-Q-Tel is a front. Isn't that incredible?

[Lochloosa]

30. This ummmm "company" should have it's own thread. That is scary

stuff. Thanks.

[Beelzebud]

5. jeez. Thanks AT&T. You fit right in with IBM.

You know IBM, the company that made computers to help the Nazis keep track of prisoners in the concentration camps.

This should be on every news broadcast....

[mantis49]

6. Darn, you beat me to it!

I just saw this and was going to post it.

Here's the story on how he came to know this:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70621-0.html?tw=rss.index

[deminks]

10. I am glad this story is being picked up

I posted earlier today, and finally noticed that you posted yesterday. The NYT had a little blurb this morning, too. IMHO, this story is hugh!!!1.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=870869&mesg_id=870869

[bluedeminredstate]

12. Unfortunately not as huge

as the mighty and all powerful Clinton member. It's the all time greatest subject changer/righteous indignation trump card. I am hoping that Americans finally catch on and give this administration the big ole middle finger, but the track record on these things isn't so good.

[Old and In the Way]

11. This government has 70MM terrorists to monitor.

They are called voting Democrats.

[Ian David]

13. AOL does the same thing...

Found a link on PrisonPlanet (not a credible source) but I've seen it covered in more reputable places.

HOMELAND SEC. SURVEIL ALL AOL FILES
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2005/161005AOL.htm

[Cronus Protagonist]

14. I heard that AOL's HQ is across the street or adjacent to the NSA

Whether it's true or not, I've always considered AOL to be a CIA cover company.

[hootinholler]

18. Definately not in proximity.

They are at least 30 miles apart. NSA is in Ft. Meade, Md. and AOhelL is in Dulles Va. While I'm certain they're not a CIA cover, the board atmosphere is neoconnish and cooperation would not surprise me. There are some amazingly liberal people working there too. All in all an interesting place to work even though the product sucks once you're truely net-savvy.

-Hoot

[Swamp Rat]

15. I am ready to drop BellSouth/AT&T

I just found out my ISP was bought by Israeli ex-military too.

Any suggestions for another ISP with DSL and a telephone company?

[ooglymoogly]

33. i switched to verizon broadband

so far so good...till i start hearing about the dirt on them...it's only 14.99 and that makes a diff. i consider aol and att the enemy

[acmejack]

17. Wow, check out this NARUS gang

Recent government regulations and the resulting standards referenced under CALEA in the United States and ETSI in Western Europe are designed to preserve law enforcement’s ability to conduct authorized electronic surveillance while preserving public safety and the public’s right to privacy. Moreover, as carriers migrate to next-generation networks (NGN), and deliver Services over IP (SoIP), the volume and complexity of the data required to deliver to law enforcement increases dramatically. NarusInsight’s Intercept Suite of application modules enable carriers and service providers around the world to comply with these new regulations in the multi-faceted world of Service over IP

http://www.narus.com/solutions/index.html

[FogerRox]

19. Friggin KNR

[IDemo]

20. AT&T's Online Privacy Policy

---

Disclosure: AT&T will not sell, trade, or disclose to third parties any customer identifiable information derived from the registration for or use of an AT&T online service -- including customer names and addresses -- without the consent of the customer (except as required by subpoena, search warrant, or other legal process or in the case of imminent physical harm to the customer or others). When AT&T uses other agents, contractors or companies to perform services on its behalf, AT&T will ensure that the company protects your customer identifiable information consistent with this Policy. If AT&T includes your name and any other customer identifiable information in a directory that AT&T creates from information we receive as an online service provider, the company will give you the opportunity to have your information excluded from that directory. Business directories that AT&T creates may, however, contain information obtained from other sources.

---

http://www.att.com/privacy/


"Other legal process", such as Alberto says "gimme"? May be time to ditch ATT/Worldnet..

[progressoid]

21. The NSA has been doing shit like this for decades.

Kinda cool that it blows up in shrubies face though.

[Piedras]

22. I witnessed phone tapping in early 1970's by "govt."

The news about NSA currently tapping international phone calls seems very credible to me. I witnessed the government tapping international phone calls in the early 1970's.

At the time I had roommates who were engineering students. They were invited to tour an underground phone switching facility where international cables came ashore. I came along, too. We toured a 3 or 4 story heavily reinforced underground concrete building that we were told was atomic bomb proof. All the switches hung from the metal bars attached to the ceilings on hinges so they could survive an earthquake or atomic bomb attack. The building was self contained with food, water, batteries, diesel generators and other supplies so the workers could survive underground for "several weeks" we were told.

One of the non-phone company staff, "a government guy", threw a switch on an international call and let us listen in for a few seconds.

Fast forward about 35 years and I have no doubt the NSA listens in on international phone calls.

[AtomicKitten]

24. AT&T tapped my business line

allegedly looking for a modem (prohibited in flat-rate lines). Kinda creeped me out to know that they monitored the line for a several-day period of time, particularly since I work under a confidentiality agreement with sensitive material that they shouldn't be listening to for any reason.

However, I will be less miffed if this sticks.

[DemReadingDU]

26. KNR

[Independent_Liberal]

27. AT&Tgate!

:)

[stepnw1f]

28. Buh Bye AT&T!

Watch your stocks tumble.... I only wish I could see the faces of those who went along with this crime. Good riddance.

[indie_voter]

29. So how long before the government invokes the States Secret privilege?

So they can kill this lawsuit?

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68894,00.html

[Mr_Spock]

31. AT&T is a RW company - an awful place to work

I hope they go down for this...

[twaddler01]

32. Gotta love AT&T

:eyes: I sure hope we at TDS don't do anything like this........

[m.suskind]

34. Get Out From Under AT&T

How does data-mining work and who works it?

Big Business Becoming Big Brother

BIG BUSINESS BECOMES BIG BROTHER

Published on Monday, August 9, 2004 by Wired News
The Emerging “Surveillance-Industrial Complex”
Big Business Becoming Big Brother

by Kim Zetter

The government is increasingly using corporations to do its surveillance work, allowing it to get around restrictions that protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, according to a report released Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization that works to protect civil liberties.

Data aggregators -- companies that aggregate information from numerous private and public databases -- and private companies that collect information about their customers are increasingly giving or selling data to the government to augment its surveillance capabilities and help it track the activities of people.

Because laws that restrict government data collection don't apply to private industry, the government is able to bypass restrictions on domestic surveillance. Congress needs to close such loopholes, the ACLU said, before the exchange of information gets out of hand.

And here's how:

AT&T Technician Says U.S. Had Access to Phone Traffic for NSA
April 7 (Bloomberg) -- A former AT&T Inc. technician who has provided evidence in a lawsuit against the company over a U.S. domestic-spying program said the government was given access to AT&T customers' phone calls and e-mail.

The technician said in a statement yesterday that cables and equipment installed at an AT&T office in San Francisco for the National Security Agency ``were tapping into'' circuits carrying customers' dial-in services.

``Based on my understanding of the connections and equipment at issue, it appears the NSA is capable of conducting what amounts to vacuum-cleaning surveillance of all the data crossing the Internet, whether that be people's e mail, Web surfing or any other data,'' said Mark Klein, a retired AT&T technician, in the statement.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based privacy-rights group, says information provided by Klein bolsters its lawsuit accusing AT&T, the biggest U.S. phone company, of providing the NSA access to databases holding details of millions of customers' calls and Internet communications without their permission.

``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,'' EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston said in a statement today.

Gordon Diamond, an AT&T spokesman, said the company doesn't comment on matters involving national security or customer privacy. Miles Ehrlich, a former U.S. prosecutor now in private practice in Berkeley, California, who is representing Klein, didn't return a message left at his office. A message left at a number for Mark Klein in San Francisco wasn't returned.

First to Be Sued

AT&T was the first company to be sued over the domestic spying program implemented in an attempt to catch terrorists after the Sept. 11 attacks. President George W. Bush in 2001 ordered the NSA to monitor some communications originating inside the U.S. without court approval. Bush says the move was allowed under the U.S. Constitution and a Congressional resolution authorizing him to use force.

When it filed its lawsuit in January, the EFF said it based its claims partly on newspaper articles about AT&T giving the NSA access to its databases.

The group filed a declaration by Klein and other evidence under seal on April 5 as part of a request for a court order halting AT&T's alleged activities. EFF has asked a federal judge to unseal the documents.

`Special Job'

Klein said in an April 6 statement that in 2002 he worked at an AT&T office in San Francisco, where he met an NSA agent who was there to see a manager about a ``special job.'' The following year he learned that fiber optic cables from a ``secret room'' set up for the NSA in San Francisco were tapping into AT&T circuits, and he saw documents showing that signals were diverted to the NSA room.

Klein, who has said he worked for AT&T for 22 years, said similar operations were being installed in Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego, according to his statement, which was first reported by Legal Pad, an Internet blog for the Recorder, a legal newspaper in San Francisco.

AT&T's lawyers said in court filings that the documents contain trade secrets and could be used to hack into AT&T's networks.

The case is Tash Hepting v. AT&T Inc., 06-0672, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco.

And here's what you can do about it:

Use WORKING ASSETS as your long-distance carrier!! You can drop your AT&T account and pick up WORKING ASSETStoday! You'll get a free pint of Ben&Jerry's and vote on where you want the profits of the company to go. ACLU is a good choice! And it you're still motivated, you can become a card-carrying member of the ACLU for as little as $20.00.