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Aug 17 15 10:09 AM
NSA Spying Relies on AT&T’s ‘Extreme Willingness to Help’
The National Security Agency’s ability to capture Internet traffic on United States soil has been based on an extraordinary, decadeslong partnership with a single company: AT&T. The National Security Agency’s ability to spy on vast quantities of Internet traffic passing through the United States has relied on its extraordinary, decades-long partnership with a single company: the telecom giant AT&T. While it has been long known that American telecommunications companies worked closely with the spy agency, newly disclosed NSA documents show that the relationship with AT&T has been considered unique and especially productive. One document described it as “highly collaborative,” while another lauded the company’s “extreme willingness to help.” AT&T’s cooperation has involved a broad range of classified activities, according to the documents, which date from 2003 to 2013. AT&T has given the NSA access, through several methods covered under different legal rules, to billions of emails as they have flowed across its domestic networks. It provided technical assistance in carrying out a secret court order permitting the wiretapping of all Internet communications at the United Nations headquarters, a customer of AT&T. The NSA’s top-secret budget in 2013 for the AT&T partnership was more than twice that of the next-largest such program, according to the documents. The company installed surveillance equipment in at least 17 of its Internet hubs on American soil, far more than its similarly sized competitor, Verizon. And its engineers were the first to try out new surveillance technologies invented by the eavesdropping agency.
The National Security Agency’s ability to spy on vast quantities of Internet traffic passing through the United States has relied on its extraordinary, decades-long partnership with a single company: the telecom giant AT&T.
While it has been long known that American telecommunications companies worked closely with the spy agency, newly disclosed NSA documents show that the relationship with AT&T has been considered unique and especially productive. One document described it as “highly collaborative,” while another lauded the company’s “extreme willingness to help.”
AT&T’s cooperation has involved a broad range of classified activities, according to the documents, which date from 2003 to 2013. AT&T has given the NSA access, through several methods covered under different legal rules, to billions of emails as they have flowed across its domestic networks. It provided technical assistance in carrying out a secret court order permitting the wiretapping of all Internet communications at the United Nations headquarters, a customer of AT&T.
The NSA’s top-secret budget in 2013 for the AT&T partnership was more than twice that of the next-largest such program, according to the documents. The company installed surveillance equipment in at least 17 of its Internet hubs on American soil, far more than its similarly sized competitor, Verizon. And its engineers were the first to try out new surveillance technologies invented by the eavesdropping agency.
Read more @ https://www.propublica.org/article/nsa-spying-relies-on-atts-extreme-willingness-to-help
The relationship between AT&T and the NSA is said to be "highly collaborative," thanks to the company's "extreme willingness to help."
Read more @ http://www.zdnet.com/article/att-phone-provider-tapped-networks-helped-nsa/
Read more @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3199563/AT-T-helped-U-S-NSA-spy-Internet-traffic-Telecommunications-powerhouse-reportedly-helped-intelligence-agency-tap-phone-lines-clients.html
Read more @ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/us/politics/att-helped-nsa-spy-on-an-array-of-internet-traffic.html?_r=0
A new analysis of documents leaked by Edward Snowden highlights massive surveillance efforts with special help from AT&T. A fresh analysis of documents disclosed by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden shows that AT&T has been a much closer and eager partner for the National Security Agency’s Internet spying activities than was previously known. AT&T has been by far the most critical telecom player in the NSA’s surveillance efforts and its willing participation in mass spying on both foreign and U.S. citizens has apparently been crucial in helping the U.S. agency take advantage of bulk record collection laws, according to a joint report in ProPublica and the New York Times. AT&T insists it adheres to the letter of the law. “We do not provide information to any investigating authorities without a court order or other mandatory process other than if a person’s life is in danger and time is of the essence,” AT&T said Saturday, in response to the report. “For example, in a kidnapping situation we could provide help tracking down called numbers to assist law enforcement.” The NSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. By examining various documents supplied by Snowden, however, ProPublica and the New York Times were able to identify AT&T as the telecom player behind the so-called Fairview program, a key part of the NSA’s mass surveillance activities. In 2011, for example, the NSA’s budget for Fairview was $188.9 million, twice the amount spent on Stormbrew, a surveillance program involving Verizon, accoriding to the report. That year, AT&T started to hand over 1.1 billion domestic cellphone calling records a day to the NSA in an effort to ramp up operations prior to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., according to the report. The disclosure stands in contrast to statements officials have made that for technical reasons, call-record programs consisted mostly of landline phone data, the report pointed out. In 2012, AT&T gave technical help to the NSA to carry out a secret court order for the wiretapping of all Internet traffic at the U.N., a company customer, in New York, according to the examination of the Snowden documents. In 2013, AT&T deployed surveillance equipment in at least 17 of its Internet hubs in the U.S., many more than Verizon, and the company’s engineers were the first to test out new surveillance technology developed by the NSA, the report said. Since June 2013, documents leaked by Snowden have led to a series of reports on the extent of the NSA’s covert spying on Internet and telecom networks worldwide. An NSA data collection program, allegedly called Prism, is thought to have tapped into servers at a variety of tech companies. The documents have also shown that the NSA has hacked into emails of leaders of U.S. allies as well as into networks and equipment of foreign companies including China-based Huawei. Technology companies named in the reports have said that their dealings with the NSA have adhered to legal guidelines, and many tech officials have openly called for curbs on U.S. surveillance, declaring that mass spying efforts harm business interests. AT&T, however, has been especially helpful to the NSA, leaked documents show. “One document described it ‘as highly collaborative,’ while another lauded the company’s ‘extreme willingness to help,’ “ according to the report. AT&T surveillance assistance, via the Fairview program, dates back prior to the 9/11 attacks and the enactment of USA Patriot Act spying provisions, all the way to the mid-1980s after the company emerged as a long-distance powerhouse in the wake of the breakup of the Bell System.
A fresh analysis of documents disclosed by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden shows that AT&T has been a much closer and eager partner for the National Security Agency’s Internet spying activities than was previously known.
AT&T has been by far the most critical telecom player in the NSA’s surveillance efforts and its willing participation in mass spying on both foreign and U.S. citizens has apparently been crucial in helping the U.S. agency take advantage of bulk record collection laws, according to a joint report in ProPublica and the New York Times.
AT&T insists it adheres to the letter of the law. “We do not provide information to any investigating authorities without a court order or other mandatory process other than if a person’s life is in danger and time is of the essence,” AT&T said Saturday, in response to the report. “For example, in a kidnapping situation we could provide help tracking down called numbers to assist law enforcement.”
The NSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
By examining various documents supplied by Snowden, however, ProPublica and the New York Times were able to identify AT&T as the telecom player behind the so-called Fairview program, a key part of the NSA’s mass surveillance activities. In 2011, for example, the NSA’s budget for Fairview was $188.9 million, twice the amount spent on Stormbrew, a surveillance program involving Verizon, accoriding to the report.
That year, AT&T started to hand over 1.1 billion domestic cellphone calling records a day to the NSA in an effort to ramp up operations prior to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., according to the report. The disclosure stands in contrast to statements officials have made that for technical reasons, call-record programs consisted mostly of landline phone data, the report pointed out.
In 2012, AT&T gave technical help to the NSA to carry out a secret court order for the wiretapping of all Internet traffic at the U.N., a company customer, in New York, according to the examination of the Snowden documents.
Since June 2013, documents leaked by Snowden have led to a series of reports on the extent of the NSA’s covert spying on Internet and telecom networks worldwide. An NSA data collection program, allegedly called Prism, is thought to have tapped into servers at a variety of tech companies. The documents have also shown that the NSA has hacked into emails of leaders of U.S. allies as well as into networks and equipment of foreign companies including China-based Huawei.
Technology companies named in the reports have said that their dealings with the NSA have adhered to legal guidelines, and many tech officials have openly called for curbs on U.S. surveillance, declaring that mass spying efforts harm business interests.
AT&T, however, has been especially helpful to the NSA, leaked documents show. “One document described it ‘as highly collaborative,’ while another lauded the company’s ‘extreme willingness to help,’ “ according to the report. AT&T surveillance assistance, via the Fairview program, dates back prior to the 9/11 attacks and the enactment of USA Patriot Act spying provisions, all the way to the mid-1980s after the company emerged as a long-distance powerhouse in the wake of the breakup of the Bell System.
Read more @ http://www.pcworld.com/article/2971732/government/atandt-a-closer-partner-of-nsa-than-previously-known-snowden-docs-show.html
In an interview at The Internet Engineering Task Force 93, former CIA employee and NSA contractor Edward Snowden spoke about privacy and security. Interestingly, Snowden focused his talk on Bitcoin and its flaws and weaknesses. Snowden began by briefly introducing the 51% attack concept, and stated that the Bitcoin network could be vulnerable to attacks and manipulation if “a pool has over 50% of the computing power to demonstrate adequate proof of work to add entries to the blockchain ledger.” Snowden commented, “Obviously, Bitcoin by itself is flawed. The protocol has a lot of weaknesses and transaction sides and a lot of weaknesses that structurally make it vulnerable to people who are trying to own 50 percent of the network and so on and so forth.” He continued and said, “Focusing too much on bitcoin, I think is a mistake. The real solution is again, how do we get to a point where you don’t have to have a direct link between your identity all of the time? You have personas. You have tokens that authenticate each person and when you want to be able to interact with people as your persona in your true name, you can do so.”
In an interview at The Internet Engineering Task Force 93, former CIA employee and NSA contractor Edward Snowden spoke about privacy and security. Interestingly, Snowden focused his talk on Bitcoin and its flaws and weaknesses.
Snowden began by briefly introducing the 51% attack concept, and stated that the Bitcoin network could be vulnerable to attacks and manipulation if “a pool has over 50% of the computing power to demonstrate adequate proof of work to add entries to the blockchain ledger.”
Snowden commented,
“Obviously, Bitcoin by itself is flawed. The protocol has a lot of weaknesses and transaction sides and a lot of weaknesses that structurally make it vulnerable to people who are trying to own 50 percent of the network and so on and so forth.”
He continued and said, “Focusing too much on bitcoin, I think is a mistake. The real solution is again, how do we get to a point where you don’t have to have a direct link between your identity all of the time? You have personas. You have tokens that authenticate each person and when you want to be able to interact with people as your persona in your true name, you can do so.”
Read more @ http://cointelegraph.com/news/115133/edward-snowden-on-bitcoin-bitcoin-by-itself-is-flawed
What a load of codswallop…… for (one) all these polls can be hacked to show whatever the power brokers want the results to be…… and (two) most people are afraid to step up to say anything because they know all their movements/what they say and do/emails/phone calls/bank transactions (everything) are being tracked and recorded, and its most evident on FB where no one talks about it at all….. for the same reason!!! The governments have made people frightened and subservient. Too afraid to say anything in case it can be used against them at a later date.
More than half of America leans toward criminal charges for Fast Eddy / hero whistlebower Despite the best efforts of the internet, US citizens favor the filing of criminal charges against Edward Snowden, say researchers. A poll [PDF] of 2,069 American voters carried out by research firm Morning Consult found that 53 per cent of the public want Snowden to face trial, and those who support the whistleblower make up just 26 per cent of the voting public. Furthermore, 29 per cent of those polled would "strongly support" criminal charges against Snowden. The study polled registered voters of various ages, races, household income, etc., on a number of general issues (such as "is the country headed in the right direction?") and the query "Do you support or oppose the US government pursuing a criminal case against Edward Snowden for leaking classified information about the way the NSA conducts its intelligence gathering?" That question found 53 per cent of Americans in favor of criminal charges, 26 per cent opposing charges, and 21 per cent (430 of those surveyed) having no opinion on the matter. A former NSA contractor who disclosed details on government surveillance programs, Snowden has been on the run for two years and is currently hiding out in Russia. While Snowden has offered to return to the US, he wants Uncle Sam to guarantee a fair trial, a concept the two sides are not likely to agree on any time soon. A "We the People" petition on Snowden's behalf drummed up 167,955 signatures, but was ultimately rejected by the White House, who maintain that what Snowden did was very much against the law.
Despite the best efforts of the internet, US citizens favor the filing of criminal charges against Edward Snowden, say researchers.
A poll [PDF] of 2,069 American voters carried out by research firm Morning Consult found that 53 per cent of the public want Snowden to face trial, and those who support the whistleblower make up just 26 per cent of the voting public. Furthermore, 29 per cent of those polled would "strongly support" criminal charges against Snowden.
The study polled registered voters of various ages, races, household income, etc., on a number of general issues (such as "is the country headed in the right direction?") and the query "Do you support or oppose the US government pursuing a criminal case against Edward Snowden for leaking classified information about the way the NSA conducts its intelligence gathering?"
That question found 53 per cent of Americans in favor of criminal charges, 26 per cent opposing charges, and 21 per cent (430 of those surveyed) having no opinion on the matter.
A former NSA contractor who disclosed details on government surveillance programs, Snowden has been on the run for two years and is currently hiding out in Russia. While Snowden has offered to return to the US, he wants Uncle Sam to guarantee a fair trial, a concept the two sides are not likely to agree on any time soon.
A "We the People" petition on Snowden's behalf drummed up 167,955 signatures, but was ultimately rejected by the White House, who maintain that what Snowden did was very much against the law.
Read more @ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/12/snowden_poll/
Read more @ http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/08/13/edward-snowden-poll-americans-dont-want-a-pardon/
And as you can see the movie companies are all in it, not just phone companies. The movie industry has been compliant in acclimatizing the public to be spied on and shaping the thoughts of the general public in many different subjects…..
Read more @ http://deadline.com/2015/08/homeland-isis-charlie-hebdo-putin-snowden-season-5-1201497368/
Why does this former spy panel senator believe Snowden should be hanged? What have they done? (Psychology – Projection) People project onto others what they feel about themselves but cannot face. Why does this senator feel he should be hanged….? Again… what has he been up too? And that goes for all of them that want Snowden hanged or shot….. We need to look into their psyches and what they have been doing and what set them on the path they are on. http://www.morningliberty.com/2015/08/12/hypnotic-states-of-america-manipulating-the-sheople/
If the US gets hold of Edward Snowden, and he's found guilty, he should be hanged! There are plenty of folks in Washington, D.C. unhappy with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and you can count retired Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) as one of those people. Snowden remains holed up in Moscow, Russia, with very few options considering the severity of charges he faces in the United States.
If the US gets hold of Edward Snowden, and he's found guilty, he should be hanged!
There are plenty of folks in Washington, D.C. unhappy with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and you can count retired Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) as one of those people. Snowden remains holed up in Moscow, Russia, with very few options considering the severity of charges he faces in the United States.
Read more @ http://www.tweaktown.com/news/46974/former-spy-panel-senator-believes-edward-snowden-hanged/index.html
Snowden isn't planning to leave Russia
Former U.S. intelligence officer Edward Snowden is not going to leave Russia, said his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, representing Snowden in Russia, Sunday. "He's in Russia. He's alright, no worries," said Kucherena to a Russian radio RSN. Kucherena also gave a negative answer to the question of the radio station about whether Snowden was going to leave the country in the near future.
Former U.S. intelligence officer Edward Snowden is not going to leave Russia, said his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, representing Snowden in Russia, Sunday.
"He's in Russia. He's alright, no worries," said Kucherena to a Russian radio RSN.
Kucherena also gave a negative answer to the question of the radio station about whether Snowden was going to leave the country in the near future.
Read more @ http://www.worldbulletin.net/world/163229/au-burundi-crisis-poses-catastrophic-risk-for-region
I do not believe this because nothing has changed…… And the amount of secret documents every year is in the millions….. to me that says that much of it is not above board….and is self-serving. I think the more secretive a government becomes the more corrupt it has become. Here are some examples. http://listverse.com/2013/06/27/10-people-who-blew-the-whistle-on-the-us-government/ http://www.amazon.com/The-Corruption-Chronicles-Secrecy-Government/dp/147676705X
Demands for certain kinds of openness have hurt government effectiveness, writes Francis Fukuyama It is hard to think of a political good that is more universally praised than government transparency. Whereas secrecy shelters corruption, abuse of power, undue influence and a host of other evils, transparency allows citizens to keep their rulers accountable. Or that is the theory. It is clear that there are vast areas in which modern governments should reveal more. Edward Snowden’s revelations of eavesdropping by the National Security Agency has encouraged belief that the US government has been not nearly transparent enough. But is it possible to have too much transparency? The answer is clearly yes: demands for certain kinds of transparency have hurt government effectiveness, particularly with regard to its ability to deliberate.
Demands for certain kinds of openness have hurt government effectiveness, writes Francis Fukuyama
It is hard to think of a political good that is more universally praised than government transparency. Whereas secrecy shelters corruption, abuse of power, undue influence and a host of other evils, transparency allows citizens to keep their rulers accountable. Or that is the theory.
It is clear that there are vast areas in which modern governments should reveal more. Edward Snowden’s revelations of eavesdropping by the National Security Agency has encouraged belief that the US government has been not nearly transparent enough. But is it possible to have too much transparency? The answer is clearly yes: demands for certain kinds of transparency have hurt government effectiveness, particularly with regard to its ability to deliberate.
Read more @ http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/1d78c194-2c8d-11e5-acfb-cbd2e1c81cca.html
Tech entrepreneurs are seizing on the new attention to digital privacy and finding customers around the world in search of more secure tools for online communication. COLOGNE, GERMANY — The scope of National Security Agency surveillance programs revealed by whistleblower-turned-fugitive Edward Snowden didn’t particularly alarm Felix Müller-Irion. Growing up coding and hanging out with the notorious German hacker collective the Chaos Computer Club, he knew the immense ways the Internet could be used to snoop on unsuspecting targets. What alarmed Mr. Müller-Irion was something most people would consider a mere footnote in the global controversy following Mr. Snowden’s leaks. In 2013 Lavabit, the encrypted, or "secure" e-mail service Snowden used shut its doors after the US government subpoenaed its encryption keys. That jolted Müller-Irion into action. "It hit me hard," recalls Müller-Irion, at the time a political science student in Maastricht University. "I thought, we had to have an alternative." Seizing what he saw as a tremendous business opportunity, the cryptography amateur turned cryptography entrepreneur took up a mission: to make ditching Gmail or Yahoo mail feasible and easy. And Lavaboom was born.
Tech entrepreneurs are seizing on the new attention to digital privacy and finding customers around the world in search of more secure tools for online communication.
COLOGNE, GERMANY — The scope of National Security Agency surveillance programs revealed by whistleblower-turned-fugitive Edward Snowden didn’t particularly alarm Felix Müller-Irion. Growing up coding and hanging out with the notorious German hacker collective the Chaos Computer Club, he knew the immense ways the Internet could be used to snoop on unsuspecting targets.
What alarmed Mr. Müller-Irion was something most people would consider a mere footnote in the global controversy following Mr. Snowden’s leaks. In 2013 Lavabit, the encrypted, or "secure" e-mail service Snowden used shut its doors after the US government subpoenaed its encryption keys. That jolted Müller-Irion into action.
"It hit me hard," recalls Müller-Irion, at the time a political science student in Maastricht University. "I thought, we had to have an alternative."
Seizing what he saw as a tremendous business opportunity, the cryptography amateur turned cryptography entrepreneur took up a mission: to make ditching Gmail or Yahoo mail feasible and easy. And Lavaboom was born.
Read more @ http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/2015/0803/In-Snowden-s-wake-crypto-startups-take-root-in-Germany
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