ATS: AT&T Narus Collaboration Sent Your Private Internet Communications to The NSA

Originally posted by Astronomer70
ImplementOfWar as long as NSA is restricted to monitoring only international traffic I have no problem with what they are doing. However, it would be a trivial matter that could be dealt with remotely, to change their filters to sort through essentially all traffic. I would be very much against that kind of snooping and would, on principle, be forced to adopt encryption. I'm not too worried about it just now because NSA does not have the resources to monitor everything--their systems would bog down and something potentially very important could be lost as a result.

The only thing left that is legally protected is my hard drive, memory, and removable storage. They need a warrant to search my hardrive. Everything that leaves my computer form my internet connection is sniffed.

I decided to make an Internet Explorer addin that people will be required to install if they want to view my webpages (A Mime Filter and URL moniker is what it is called). This way I can mail it to them in the mail, they can install it, and I can encrypt my webpage to only be veiwable by those who have the plugin. If they can sniff my internet but can't legally hack into my hardrive, if I just send out encrypted communication then they potentially could never be able to know what I am sending if they cant decrypt the data being passed. If I send the plugin out through the Postal service then they would have to open my mail, copy the plugin from the disk, and get it back into the hands of my ISP. I figure that is unlikely.

The goal is to stop my ISP from sniffing my internet.

Eventually I will make a program so I can chat with encryption, send encrypted email, and a private encrypted message board. The webbrowser plugin is alot easier and is something I can do in the short term as a start.


I have no problem with the NSA bugging Chinas, Indias, or Europes internet. I have a problem when the CIA, FBI, and NSA bug our own. There are even Federal laws that allow ISP's (Internet Service Providers) to install "wiretaps" on their customers. Supposedly to make sure we follow their terms of service but obviously it is being used maliciously. It sucks that I have always used AT&T. Thankfully I'm not a domestic terrorist and I am kind of paranoid about eavesdropping so I'm not worried about a knock on my door since I know better to not incrimiate myself over the net or telephone (if I was ever doing anything illegal), but I am pissed that my voice is probably in the gov's database, who I have ever called, etc etc.

It's the internet sniffing that really bothers me because I use the internet religiously. I shop on the internet, I talk to family and friends, and I do research and participate in hobbies on the internet. I just wish I had the peace of mind of the law protecting me while I surf the net.

[edit on 24-4-2006 by ImplementOfWar]

From Reuters today: The US government seeks to dismiss AT&T suit because it has possibility of divulging military & state secrets. I guess this one will get thrown out soon then.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29 - The U.S. government has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by a San Francisco civil liberties group against AT&T because it says the case could reveal military and state secrets.

The class-action suit by the group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, on behalf of AT&T customers accuses the company of unlawful collaboration with the National Security Agency in its surveillance program to intercept telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people linked to al Qaeda and affiliated organizations.

Article Here

In the the tradition of "Thinking Globally, Acting Locally" I've just submitted the following compliant to the California Public Utilities Commission:


Information about the Company/Utility your complaint involves:

Company Name: AT&T Representative Contacted (if any):

Full Address: N/A Phone No: 800-433-4518

Briefly describe the complaint below:

Description: By allowing the the National Security Agency (NSA) , an agency of the United States federal government, to utilize its equipment to monitor and/or intercept the telephone and internet communications of its customers, without the required notification or legally issued warrant, AT&T and others knowing and willfully have violated Section #2891.1 of the California Public Utilities Code.

5/2/2006

The People United, Shall Never Be Enslaved.

This is almost unbelievable!

NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: The NSA record collection program

"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.

More...

:shk:

It might be easier to just make a list of what ISN'T monitored at this point.

I think it's time to admit there is no such thing as privacy or personal information anymore. It started long before 9/11 with the abuse of Social Security numbers (who doesn't have it?), the equilalent of black boxes in our vehicles, etc. At this point anyone who thinks their personal activites are still personal activities you are living in a dream world.

I am so outrage at what is going on I am becoming almost speechless.

What more prof is needed to the illegality of what the government is doing to its own citizens.

If this is not a type of totalitarian rule I need to know what is called by supporters of these corrupted administration.

Illegal surveillance that is the name to it and a blatant arrogance by the Administration that dare to lie again and again denying that this is limited to Terrorist or suspected terrorist

It seems that we all Are suspected terrorist and just one slip of the tongue and we will be tag easily.

Freedoms of speech, privacy rights we are living in a bubble while been controlled by our Elected officials.

So I may ask do we truly elect the government anymore? or is just an illusion of democracy what is left in our country, because obviously our constitutional rights is becoming just that. . . .

Nixon smells like flowers compare to Bush and his corrupted government.

and just one slip of the tongue and we will be tag easily.

With this Narus datamining programme or the NSA phone-logging programs, you don't even need to say anything to get tagged. You just need to reside in the periphery of a network of people who are suspicious, or for the network's distribution to be suspicious.

I must say that between Hayden's possible appointment to CIA director and this development, the US is well on its way to a military dictatorship. The USSR is not dead. It is migrating.

Originally posted by Nygdan
With this Narus datamining programme or the NSA phone-logging programs, you don't even need to say anything to get tagged.

Nydgan this so incredible is beyond understanding even when we have known all alone that our own government has overstep their boundaries under the constitution.

But to have it so open and blatant is just to scary right now to grasp.

I am to go home for a few weeks on vacation and after hearing what happen to three males that got arrested for talking about airplanes while in an airplane is just too obviously to dismiss.

What is happening to our nation Nydgan?

Now we have to be afraid of the same government that we the people elected?

What is happening this is beyond war on terror now.

AT&T aren't the WORST culprits here, what about Verizon and that other company, whatever it's called. Everyone seems to have forgottened about them.

*Sigh* Not too surprised, heck they are probably monitoring us right now. Can't they just freaking stop? Stupid jerks, there is no freedom now apparently.

hahaha i dont use At&t i use a cheaper phone company that doesnt # you over or charges you for long distance you never used

Encrypting your email will only bring attention to it. Duh!!! The reading of emails related to the previous admin., not this one.

Another interesting story somewhat related to this thread:

Police Got Phone Data From Brokers

Numerous federal and local law enforcement agencies have bypassed subpoenas and warrants designed to protect civil liberties and gathered Americans' personal telephone records from private-sector data brokers.

These brokers, many of whom advertise aggressively on the Internet, have gotten into customer accounts online, tricked phone companies into revealing information and even acknowledged that their practices violate laws, according to documents gathered by congressional investigators and provided to The Associated Press.

The law enforcement agencies include offices in the Homeland Security Department and Justice Department - including the FBI and U.S. Marshal's Service - and municipal police departments in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia and Utah. Experts believe hundreds of other departments frequently use such services.

More...

I love the notion that the government is doing nothing wrong, even when their information "brokers" break the law....

Lovely logic, don't you think?

And finally:

Catch 22 Alive and Well in Surveillance Lawsuit

The United States government says a lawsuit brought against AT&T over government surveillance must be dismissed because the state secrets privilege prevents the company from either admitting or denying the allegations.

Even if the program was found to be illegal, the government argues the court could not take action "because to do so would confirm" the allegations and put the country at risk.

"Finally the Administration has come out and flatly said what it has hinted at throughout its arguments: that the program is above the law," says a response from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed the lawsuit alleging illegal electronic surveillance of private citizens.

More...

Well, that pretty much ends that, now, doesn't it?

See, also: US agency limits intelligence scrutiny

[edit on 20-6-2006 by loam]

Now this:

Bank Data Secretly Reviewed by U.S. to Fight Terror

WASHINGTON, June 22 - Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials.


The program is limited, government officials say, to tracing transactions of people suspected of ties to Al Qaeda by reviewing records from the nerve center of the global banking industry, a Belgian cooperative that routes about $6 trillion daily between banks, brokerages, stock exchanges and other institutions. The records mostly involve wire transfers and other methods of moving money overseas or into and out of the United States. Most routine financial transactions confined to this country are not in the database.


Viewed by the Bush administration as a vital tool, the program has played a hidden role in domestic and foreign terrorism investigations since 2001 and helped in the capture of the most wanted Qaeda figure in Southeast Asia, the officials said. The program, run out of the Central Intelligence Agency and overseen by the Treasury Department, "has provided us with a unique and powerful window into the operations of terrorist networks and is, without doubt, a legal and proper use of our authorities," Stuart Levey, an undersecretary at the Treasury Department, said in an interview Thursday. The program is grounded in part on the president's emergency economic powers, Mr. Levey said, and multiple safeguards have been imposed to protect against any unwarranted searches of Americans' records.

More...

Is this a surprise? And do you really think it limited? I'm not so sure.

The latest with AT&T:

AT&T rewrites rules: Your data isn't yours

AT&T has issued an updated privacy policy that takes effect Friday. The changes are significant because they appear to give the telecom giant more latitude when it comes to sharing customers' personal data with government officials.

The new policy says that AT&T -- not customers -- owns customers' confidential info and can use it "to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."

The policy also indicates that AT&T will track the viewing habits of customers of its new video service -- something that cable and satellite providers are prohibited from doing.

More...

:shk:

All the info that 'loam' just posted above and everything else I just read in this thread.. (please no offence to anyone, just my opinion!) but just another reason why I am glad I do not live in the US, ur government seems way too corrupt!

Where do you live ? I would imagine that the goverment in your area has its problems too....

More on the BANKING data story:

Media Refuses to Hold Surveillance Story

The Bush administration and The New York Times are again at odds over national security, this time with new reports of a broad government effort to track global financial transfers.

The newspaper, which in December broke news of an effort by the National Security Agency to monitor Americans' telephone calls and e- mails, declined a White House request not to publish a story about the government's inspection of monies flowing in and out of the country.

The Los Angeles Times also reported on the issue Thursday night on its Web site, against the Bush administration's wishes. The Wall Street Journal said it received no request to hold its report of the surveillance.

More...

[edit on 23-6-2006 by loam]