NSA interception: How it works, who’s helping
Some details are starting to emerge on how the domestic spying program authorised by US President Bush actually works and on who is co-operating with the US Government to make it happen.
According to a report on C|Net News, 94% of world-wide Internet traffic was routed through US switches and peering-points in 2005.
This makes the NSA’s job easier. The C|Net article describes in detail 
the various technical options open to the NSA for tapping land-based or underwater fibre-optic cables and copper lines.
A C|Net News survey published a few days ago identified 15 large US telecommunications companies and back-bone service providers who said that they were not co-operating.
A further 12 refused to confirm or deny participation, in some cases citing “national security concerns” as the reason for their coyness.
AT&T, one of the non-commital companies, is now being sued by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for alleged illegal surveillance of users’ data in co-operation with the NSA.
More:
- NSA Spying Myths (The Nation)
- On NSA Spying: A Letter to Congress (New York Review of Books)
- The whole thing is a wicked beat-up by well-known liberal pinko organizations like ABC, CBS and NBC (NewsBusters)
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Tags: email, homeland security, Internet traffic, not apple mail, NSA, privacy, spying, telecommunications industry
