There might be at least one good reason for NOT going overseas on that first leg. The NSA's charter restricts it to international operations. By making that first leg a foreign one, you've made your transmission, the one with your address visible, fair game for them.
In theory, yes. But I've heard rumors from Canadian Bell people that their American counterparts routinely call them up to ask that they "throw switches" that they cannot legally throw themselves.
That, plus well documented history, is enough for me to always assume that they *don't* follow the rules.
Yeah, and I got a recent report that "Long Lines" and other microwave tower lines were deliberately routed so as to cross over Indian Reservation lands in several places. Why? Allegedly because Indian lands are legally treated as "sovereign nations" and the (purported) rules against NSA listening could be ignored. And of course we've all read Bamford's account of the UK-USA Agreement, in which the UK spies on us and we spy on them, and all the legal niceties are thus met. Someday, when many people act as remailers, it won't matter as much. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."