The sad part about this is that I doubt the following AP story will cause the horrible, screaming outrage it rightfully should. Here we go.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation said it obtained documents from a former AT&T technician showing that the National Security Agency is capable of monitoring all communications on AT&T’s network.
“It appears the NSA is capable of 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,” whistle-blower Mark Klein, who worked for the company for 22 years, said in a statement released by his lawyers. [..]
The suit claims AT&T company not only provided direct access to its network that carries voice and data but also to its massive databases of stored telephone and Internet records that are updated constantly.
AT&T violated U.S. law and the privacy of its customers as part of the “massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans’ communications” without warrants, the EFF alleged.
Klein said the NSA built a secret room at the company’s San Francisco central office in 2003, adjacent to a “switch room where the public’s phone calls are routed.” One of the documents under seal, Klein said, shows that a device was installed with the “ability to sift through large amounts of data looking for preprogrammed targets.”
Since it’s late and I’m sleepy, I think the only measured, thoughtful response I can offer you is holy shit. While most of us have assumed for some time that this program is as awful as it gets, it’s still hard not to be left dumbstruck when little details like the above emerge. Don’t forget that this program is still active and the very fabric of our nation is under assault by the Bush administration. I doubt that the Wost President Ever, forgot that he swore to uphold the Constitution. He just doesn’t give a fuck about it. How much clearer can it get than this – warrant-less data mining of the communications of American citizens conducted from within a secret room in AT&T’s headquarters?
I wish I had more in the tank so I could write a better reaction than this, but I need to go to bed. I just wanted to get this on the front page, so more intelligent people than me would spot it and, hopefully, write up some good posts and diaries if they feel like it. Goodnight. I’ll leave you with this.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
