Telecom Giant Pulled Into Domestic Eavesdropping Controversy (1 Viewer)

[aps]

What kind of country am I living in? This is appalling!

Telecom giant pulled into domestic eavesdropping controversy
By Shane Harris, National Journal
April 14, 2006

AT&T, which provides phone and Internet service to millions of Americans, is ensnared in the widening controversy over the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping: A former employee claims firsthand knowledge of AT&T's cooperation in "wholesale" monitoring of Americans' communications.

Mark Klein, who says he was an AT&T technician for more than 20 years, says that the company aids the National Security Agency in "conducting what amounts to vacuum-cleaner surveillance of all the data crossing the Internet -- whether that be people's e-mail, Web surfing, or any other data," according to a statement Klein released. AT&T has given the NSA extraordinary access to its central switching offices, the nerve centers of its digital networks, Klein contends.

At the NSA's behest, Klein says, the telecom giant constructed a "secret room," off-limits to most of its technicians, that siphoned information from the company's residential Internet service. The secret system also captured information from "peering links," which connect AT&T's infrastructure to other telecommunications networks, potentially giving the NSA access to information traversing "the whole country, as well as the rest of the world."

If true, Klein's allegations provide some of the most detailed and tantalizing peeks at how the NSA eavesdrops inside the United States. (Under the Bush administration's "terrorist surveillance program," the NSA seeks, without court approval, to intercept communications that it believes involve terrorists abroad and their associates in the United States.) . . . .

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33847

Apparently, the United States has made an appearance in the lawsuit. No surprise there.

U.S. Steps Into Wiretap Suit Against AT&T
By JOHN MARKOFF

SAN FRANCISCO, April 28 — The government asked a federal judge here Friday to dismiss a civil liberties lawsuit against the AT&T Corporation because of a possibility that military and state secrets would otherwise be disclosed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/29/us/29nsa.html

 

[Simon W. Moon]

Re: NSA going through e-mails, web surfing, and phone calls all without a warrant

The govt has argued that the entire country is a war zone and thus we're subject to different rules than if we weren't on the frontlines of the battle field.

No fooling. This was the govt's argument re Padilla dentention.

Patriotic as Hell if you ask me.

 

[aps]

Re: NSA going through e-mails, web surfing, and phone calls all without a warrant

The govt has argued that the entire country is a war zone and thus we're subject to different rules than if we weren't on the frontlines of the battle field.

No fooling. This was the govt's argument re Padilla dentention.

Patriotic as Hell if you ask me.

Are you serious? :shock:

 

[alphamale]

Re: NSA going through e-mails, web surfing, and phone calls all without a warrant

The government isn't looking at the contents of emails, but rather who they're from and who they are addressed to. This government has long had the power to do this without warrant, as there is no expectation of privacy for such information.

 

[Simon W. Moon]

Re: NSA going through e-mails, web surfing, and phone calls all without a warrant

Are you serious? :shock:

Fatally so. No foolin'.

 

[Binary_Digit]

Re: NSA going through e-mails, web surfing, and phone calls all without a warrant

It would be patriotic if it were true. The entire country is a war zone? And people say this administration doesn't exaggerate anything. It is unpatriotic because the war on terrorism has no concievable end. Maybe we should just scrap the Constitution and declare Maritime law from coast to coast. The entire country is a permanent war zone, after all.

 

[KCConservative]

Re: NSA going through e-mails, web surfing, and phone calls all without a warrant

What kind of country am I living in?

A country serious about ridding herself of terrorists.

 

[Binary_Digit]

Re: NSA going through e-mails, web surfing, and phone calls all without a warrant

What kind of country am I living in?

A country that is willing to let terrorists terrorize us into giving up our essential liberties. A country that is willing to justify anything if it even remotely involves "fighting" terrorism. A country led by an administration that is willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

 

[aps]

Re: NSA going through e-mails, web surfing, and phone calls all without a warrant

A country that is willing to let terrorists terrorize us into giving up our essential liberties. A country that is willing to justify anything if it even remotely involves "fighting" terrorism. A country led by an administration that is willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

You got that right. I am stunned by this news.

 

[cascadian]

Re: NSA going through e-mails, web surfing, and phone calls all without a warrant

You got that right. I am stunned by this news.

I was too. But I'm almost more stunned by the deadpan reaction. Nobody even seems interesting in denying that the government is doing it.

 

[Real Korimyr #9]

Re: NSA going through e-mails, web surfing, and phone calls all without a warrant

But I'm almost more stunned by the deadpan reaction. Nobody even seems interesting in denying that the government is doing it.

That is because half of us aren't even remotely surprised by this and the other half thinks it's a good idea.