AT&T engineer: NSA built secret rooms in our facilities

[CptStern]

very interesting read here

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060412-6585.html

"In 2002, when I was working in an AT&T office in San Francisco, the site manager told me to expect a visit from a National Security Agency agent, who was to interview a management-level technician for a special job. The agent came, and by chance I met him and directed him to the appropriate people.

In January 2003, I, along with others, toured the AT&T central office on Folsom Street in San Francisco—actually three floors of an SBC building. There I saw a new room being built adjacent to the 4ESS switch room where the public's phone calls are routed. I learned that the person whom the NSA interviewed for the secret job was the person working to install equipment in this room. The regular technician work force was not allowed in the room.


..According to Klein, this room contained (among other things) a Narus STA 6400 traffic analyzer into which all of AT&T's Internet and phone traffic was routed; Klein himself helped wire the splitter box that made this possible. In addition to AT&T's own traffic, Klein alleges that the company also routed its peering links into the splitter, meaning that any traffic that passed through AT&T's own network could be scanned. Futhermore, San Francisco wasn't the only place such secret rooms were built; Klein claims that AT&T offices in Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego also have them.


...Given the massive scale of the spy operation in the US (and this is only one company; it's not yet clear if the NSA has partnered with other telecom firms), it's growing increasingly difficult to believe that this is truly "targeted surveillance." The equipment used and the vast scale of the information being monitored both suggest that the NSA is sifting through massive amounts of user data and phone calls. Much of the information that passes through their spy system must therefore be domestic rather than international in nature. It is possible that phone calls, for instance, that begin and end in the US are simply passed through the system without being scanned, but if so, this must certainly tempt the NSA, which has only to tweak their settings to see all that new data. What is actually being monitored is still unclear, but it looks as though this trial could bring much of it to light."

big brother is listening ...so much for the "home of the free"

I wonder if spying happens within these zones?
http://www.amconmag.com/12_15_03/feature.html

 

[Hazar]

good ol' ECHELON

 

[$kelet0r]

interesting essay - the jibe in the last line was a bit tasteless but a good read nonetheless

 

[CptStern]

tasteless? how so?

 

[$kelet0r]

But the trend lines in federal attacks on freedom of speech should raise grave concerns to anyone worried about the First Amendment or about how a future liberal Democratic president such as Hillary Clinton might exploit the precedents that Bush is setting.

tasteless
although seeing as it's from a conservative source I am both unsuprised and delighted by its content

 

[CptStern]

heheh ok now I see what I'm missing ..the quote is from my last link ..on the conservative news thingy ..I thought you referring to the main article here


http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060412-6585.html

 

[DeusExMachina]

Doesn't surprise me in the least. The Echelon program has been going on for awhile and I'm sure this ties into it.

 

[Direwolf]

Unsettling, but I'm not going to freak out quite yet.

 

[$kelet0r]

freak Out!!!!

 

[15357]

"Freedom can be achieved only by security, but security is achieved by means that undermime freedom."

 

[K e r b e r o s]

^ Owned.

 

[Sebastian]

"Freedom can be achieved only by security, but security is achieved by means that undermime freedom."

That is one of the dumbest, most contradicting quote I've ever heard

 

[K e r b e r o s]

It's contradicting? Sebastian, point out where it becomes contradictory, also ... if anything, that quote points out the contradiction of free states and what they have to do in order to ensure security amungst its citizens.

 

[$kelet0r]

"Freedom can be achieved only by security, but security is achieved by means that undermime freedom."

that's an interesting quote...very Orwellian

 

[kirovman]

"Any society that gives up a little liberty for a little security deserves neither, and loses both"

That was one of your US presidents that said that.

 

[K e r b e r o s]

"Any society that gives up a little liberty for a little security deserves neither, and loses both"

I feel sorry for the UK and the US then.