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Nbadan
08-16-2007, 02:14 PM
ATT spying on Americans....


http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j309/SIMPLYB1980/attsecretroom.jpg
Does not exist!


In 2003, Room 641A of a large telecommunications building in downtown San Francisco was filled with powerful data-mining equipment for a "special job" by the National Security Agency, according to a former AT&T technician. It was fed by fiber-optic cables that siphoned copies of e-mails and other online traffic from one of the largest Internet hubs in the United States, the former employee says in court filings.

Neither AT&T nor the federal government has admitted even the existence of a secret room, and the Justice Department is arguing that the cases should be dismissed because their subject matter is a state secret. The communications company, meanwhile, says it is prevented from properly defending itself because of national security reasons and dismisses the employee who briefly saw the room and worked on supporting equipment as a "line technician who . . . never had access to the 'secret room' he purports to describe." <--- that is as scarey an excuse as it is laughable

The allegations by Mark Klein, who worked for AT&T's WorldNet Service, underscore the government's dependence on major telecommunications providers to physically tap optic fibers that carry electronic signals around the globe. Some of the evidence also suggests that the NSA efforts were not limited to overseas e-mail communications and included the collection of purely domestic traffic.

"I conclude that AT&T has constructed an extensive -- and expensive -- collection of infrastructure that collectively has all the capability necessary to conduct large-scale covert gathering of -based communications information, not only for communications to overseas locations, but for purely domestic communications as well," said Marcus, a veteran computer network executive who worked at GTE, Genuity and other companies before joining the FCC.

James X. Dempsey, policy director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said the evidence gleaned from the AT&T case appears to confirm that "there is a massive surveillance capability built into the network" by the federal government. But, Dempsey added, "the mere fact that the capability has been built and utilized still does not answer the fundamental question -- has it been exercised under constitutional parameters? That, in a way, is what these cases are trying to get to."

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/13/AR2007081301113_2.html)


If you're a Windows user, fire up an MS-DOS command prompt. Now type tracert followed by the domain name of the website, e-mail host, VoIP switch, or whatever destination you're interested in. Watch as the program spits out your route, line by line.

1369
08-16-2007, 02:28 PM
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/1/13/MCP.jpg

Not impressed

Wild Cobra
08-16-2007, 03:49 PM
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/1/13/MCP.jpg

Not impressed
Neither am I. One of the pieces of equipment I maintained in the Army in the 80's was an AT&T DACS frame. We had an older version, but it was more than enough for our circuits. It had 120 full duplex DS1 channels (2.048 Mbit/sec). Most of our DS1 level signals were T1's (1.544 Mbit/sec). This equipment used a single 19" rack. It used UNIX for an operating system. The purpose of it was to take any embedded signal from any channel, and move it to another channel. Most of what we did at this site was multiple and demultiplex multiple 64 kbit/sec signals into the T1's. A 64 kbit could be just about anything, including multiple signals on a 64 kbit. Some of our signals were larger than that too. In the end, we would transmit these signals after encryption over T3 signals (45 Mbit/sec) via microwave radios to various sites.

Point is, with a command, you could monitor anything. Through a service channel, you could look at any other signal anywhere on the system. It was originally designed as a maintenance feature and troubleshooting, but it can be used to 'wiretap' too. You get a network of similar equipment which is now likely nationwide, and yes, with the right access, and commands, you can monitor anything on the system. With fiber optics, modern super computer speeds, and fiber optics... I would say the sky is the linit for data mining.

This room 641 could just be a typical terminal, or it could be an NSA port site. I don't know and I don't care. After all, they do have the legal right at a minimum with warrants.

Nbadan
08-20-2007, 02:05 PM
Still doubt that this adminstration is beyond spying on it's political enemies using AT&T infrastructure?

Bush Administration Has Been Using Illegal Wiretapping and Spying Activity for Political Purposes. Doubt It?
Submitted by mark karlin on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 8:01am. Editorials


In an under covered trial in a California courtroom, a Constitutional drama is unfolding of major significance.

It a federal lawsuit filed by Americans who claim that the Bush Administration, with the cooperation of AT&T, illegally spied on them. The Bush Administration has taken the Orwellian position that the trial must not be allowed to proceed because it would require the White House to reveal if they indeed have illegally monitored the plaintiffs – and that – the Bush Politburo argues – would violate "state secrets."

......................

Reaching back into the recesses of our memory, we recall that in one of Alberto Gonzales’s farcical appearances before Congress – when the FISA illegal eavesdropping first broke in the New York Times (after they sat on the story for a year) – Gonzales was asked if the spying might have been used for domestic purposes other than terrorism. Gonzales’s responded, in essence, that he couldn’t say for sure.

...........................

With domestic spying powers just recently legally expanded by a Democratic Congress to include, according to the New York Times, certain types of physical searches on American soil and the collection of Americans' business records, the Bush Administration now has legal authority to achieve what Nixon attempted to do illegally in the Watergate burglary.

..................

This is not BuzzFlash idle speculation; it is what the Bush Administration, now enabled by the lack of caucus discipline in a Democratic Congress, has achieved.

Buzzflash (http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorials/157)

Holt's Cat
08-20-2007, 02:30 PM
Well, if Buzzflash posts it....

Wild Cobra
08-20-2007, 02:33 PM
Still doubt that this adminstration is beyond spying on it's political enemies using AT&T infrastructure?

Bush Administration Has Been Using Illegal Wiretapping and Spying Activity for Political Purposes. Doubt It?
Submitted by mark karlin on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 8:01am. Editorials



Buzzflash (http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorials/157)
That article doesn't say anything of substance. What the plaintiff claims is not necessarily fact!

Why do you waste our time?