Snowden Documents Reveal AT&T Helped NSA Spy on Internet Traffic

Under a decades-old program with the government, telecom giant AT&T in 2003 led the way on a new collection capability that the National Security Agency said amounted to a "'live' presence on the global net" and would forward 400 billion Internet metadata records in one of its first months of operation, The New York Times reported.

The Fairview program was forwarding more than 1 million emails a day to the NSA's headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, the newspaper reported. Meanwhile, the separate Stormbrew program, linked to Verizon and the former company MCI, was still gearing up to use the new technology, which appeared to process foreign-to-foreign traffic.

In 2011, AT&T began handing over 1.1 billion domestic cellphone calling records a day to the NSA after "a push to get this flow operational prior to the 10th anniversary of 9/11," according to an internal agency newsletter cited by the Times. Intelligence officials have told reporters in the past that, for technical reasons, the effort consisted mostly of landline phone records, the newspaper reported.

The NSA spent $188.9 million on the Fairview program, twice the amount spent on Stormbrew, its second-largest corporate program, the newspaper reported.

Such details from the decades-long partnership between the government and AT&T emerged from NSA documents provided by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden, the Times reported in a story posted Saturday on its website. The Times and ProPublica jointly reviewed the documents, which date from 2003 to 2013.

While it has been long known that American telecommunications companies worked closely with the spy agency, the newspaper reported, the documents show that the government's 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," the newspaper reported.

The documents show that AT&T's cooperation has involved a broad range of classified activities, according to the Times. 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 also has provided technical assistance in carrying out a secret court order permitting the wiretapping of all Internet communications at U.N. headquarters, a customer of AT&T, the Times reported. While NSA spying on U.N. diplomats had been previously reported, the newspaper said Saturday that neither the court order nor AT&T's involvement had been disclosed.

The documents also reveal that AT&T installed surveillance equipment in at least 17 of its Internet hubs on American soil, the Times reported, far more than similarly sized competitor Verizon. AT&T engineers were the first to try out new surveillance technologies invented by the NSA, the newspaper reported.

The NSA, AT&T and Verizon declined to discuss the findings from the files, according to the Times. It is not clear if the programs still operate in the same way today, the newspaper reported.

One of the documents provided by Snowden reminds NSA officials to be polite when visiting AT&T facilities, the Times reported, and notes, "This is a partnership, not a contractual relationship."

Via: NewsMax

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AT&T Helped N.S.A. Spy on an Array of Internet Traffic

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 N.S.A. 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 N.S.A. 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. 

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Newly Disclosed N.S.A. Files Detail Partnerships With AT&T and Verizon

These National Security Agency documents shed new light on the agency’s relationship through the years with American telecommunications companies. They show how the agency’s partnership with AT&T has been particularly important, enabling it to conduct surveillance, under several different legal rules, of international and foreign-to-foreign Internet communications that passed through network hubs on American soil.

The N.S.A.’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.

One document reminds N.S.A. officials to be polite when visiting AT&T facilities, noting, “This is a partnership, not a contractual relationship.”

The documents, provided by the former agency contractor Edward J. Snowden, were jointly reviewed by The New York Times and ProPublica. The N.S.A., AT&T and Verizon declined to discuss the findings from the files. “We don’t comment on matters of national security,” an AT&T spokesman said.

It is not clear if the programs still operate in the same way today. Since the Snowden revelations set off a global debate over surveillance two years ago, some Silicon Valley technology companies have expressed anger at what they characterize as N.S.A. intrusions and have rolled out new encryption to thwart them. The telecommunications companies have been quieter, though Verizon unsuccessfully challenged a court order for bulk phone records in 2014.

At the same time, the government has been fighting in court to keep the identities of its telecom partners hidden. In a recent case, a group of AT&T customers claimed that the N.S.A.’s tapping of the Internet violated the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches. This year, a federal judge dismissed key portions of the lawsuit after the Obama administration argued that public discussion of its telecom surveillance efforts would reveal state secrets, damaging national security.

The N.S.A. documents do not identify AT&T or other companies by name. Instead, they refer to corporate partnerships run by the agency’s Special Source Operations division using code names. The division is responsible for more than 80 percent of the information the N.S.A. collects, one document states.

Via: New York Times

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AT&T & DirecTV Merger Gets FCC Approval – With Conditions

One day after AT&T CFO John Stephens said he expected the $49 billion melding with DirecTV to get regulatory approval “at any time,” the Federal Communications Commission has signed off on the deal today. Now the largest Pay TV provider in the nation, the newly merged company will have around 26 million cable and satellite subscribers. To that end, the FCC have imposed some conditions for the next four years on the rich AT&T and DirecTV marriage.

Related

AT&T Says DirecTV Acquisition Will Transform The Video Industry

The approval comes with the stipulations that the new bigger than ever telecommunications giant grow its high-speed fiber network and build on the FCC’s Open Internet Order. That will include greater access for public libraries and schools as well as discounted pricing for millions of low income households to get them online. An independent compliance officer will also be in place to make sure that there will be no-data caps on the company’s broadband or discrimination against video services. “The conditions imposed by the commission address potential harms presented by the combination of AT&T, one of the nation’s largest telephone and Internet service providers, and DIRECTV, the nation’s largest satellite video provider,” said the FCC in a statement today. “This pretty much seals the merger as the Department of Justice has already stated that it would not contest the arrangement.

Via: Deadline

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FCC Accused Of ‘Kafkaesque’ Behavior In Decision To Fine AT&T

The Federal Communications Commission announced Wednesday it plans to impose a $100 million fine on AT&T for capping data speeds on its unlimited wireless data plans.

What do you think?

The FCC claims in a press release that AT&T severely slowed down the data speeds for customers with unlimited data plans, and failed to adequately notify them that they could receive speeds slower than the speeds AT&T advertised, though the firm’s defenders contend its actions were allowed under the rules in effect at the time.

What do you think?

“Consumers deserve to get what they pay for,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “The FCC will not stand idly by while consumers are deceived by misleading marketing materials and insufficient disclosure.” (RELATED: FCC Fines AT&T $25 Million for Disclosing Data on Hundreds of Thousands of Americans)

What do you think?

AT&T began offering unlimited data plans in 2007, and in 2011, the company implemented a “Maximum Bit Rate” policy that caps speeds for customers once they exceed a predetermined amount of data usage within a billing cycle. AT&T has since discontinued unlimited data plans for new customers, but continues to allow renewal for existing customers, thousands of whom have sent formal complaints to the FCC since 2011.

AT&T began offering unlimited data plans in 2007, and in 2011, the company implemented a “Maximum Bit Rate” policy that caps speeds for customers once they exceed a predetermined amount of data usage within a billing cycle. AT&T has since discontinued unlimited data plans for new customers, but continues to allow renewal for existing customers, thousands of whom have sent formal complaints to the FCC since 2011.

Via: Daily Caller

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