Some newly disclosed documents, dating from 2003 to 2013, cite that the telecom company, AT&T, has been helping the U.S. NSA to spy on the Internet traffic passing across the United States. The topic was first brought to light by the former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden and started a huge debate about individuals’ privacy.
WHAT’S NEW?
The New York Times reported on Saturday that AT&T gave technical support to the National Security Agency, after carrying out an undercover court order, which gave permission to the government of the United States to intercept all web communications of the company’s customers in the United Nations.
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HOW DID THAT HELP THE NSA?
Also, the telecom giant helped the spy agency with a series of classified activities, and the documents describe the connection between the NSA and AT&T as “a partnership and not a contractual relationship.” The telecom company helped the NSA to organize and carry out surveillance of international web communications that weathered through junction networks in the United States, and according to the NSA document, AT&T has been providing access to other telecoms and Internet Service Providers as well.
The reason why this access provided is extremely important is because a huge amount of the world’s web communication is transmitted through U.S. cables. The surveillance equipment that AT&T installed in, at least, 17 of its Internet hubs in America is located far away from Verizon’s equipment, and the first who tried the new technology were the company’s engineers.
AT&T’S COMMENTS
The Times report that in 2011 AT&T started giving the agency access to more than 1.1 billion private cellphone calls on a daily basis, in order to prepare for the 9/11 10th anniversary, as the document cites.
AT&T spokesman, Brad Burns, was asked to comment on the New York Times report and he chose to respond by an email to Reuters, saying that the company provides selected information to investigating authorities, only when a person’s life is in danger and time is valuable: “For example, in a kidnapping situation we could provide help tracking down called numbers to assist law enforcement,” he continued.
Burns added that the company has nothing more to report.
