Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 15:27:49 -0500> To: cypherpunks@al-qaeda.net> From: jya@pipeline.com> Subject: Re: Matt Blaze blog entry about NSA warrantless wiretapping> > Matt's concluding concern that Southwestern Bell's AT&T might > have violated the basic privacy promise of the original AT&T by> dancing to NSA's tune, is indeed to be lamented. SW Bell has been > cooperating with the Feds from its earliest days, thanks to the vast > military array and contracts in its service area.> > One might suspect that SW Bell's buyout of AT&T was assisted by> the spies for their own purposes to gain ready access to the> infrastructure through tried and trusted friendlies. NTT's> arrangement for
Well, one argument I'd bet had been ridden and will continue to ride under Obama is that there is no eavesdropping unless a human actually listens in. In other words, given that there's a giant vacuum cleaner, the first port of call for that traffic is almost certainly some kind of keyword processor. Traffic of high risk probably passes through successive layers of technology until there's a decision to actually put a human ear on it. But the telcos probably don't need/want to know the conditions under which a human is actually invoked, and can deniably state that they were unaware, when they gladly ripped out a copy of the traffic, that NSA, etc...was actually going to break a law by having a human listen in sans warrant. As a result, it's safe to say it's still occurring, though probably not in big fat bundles and dedicated rooms. Back in the digital domain (as opposed to the more obvious splitting out at the optical layer), it's easily possible for the traffic to be routed in such a way as to grant the telcos complete plausible deniability (eg, by leveraging CALEA in clever ways, or by merely grabbing copies of protect traffic in UPSR rings). Of course, this raises the spectre of the (impossible) Variola Suitcase, meaning they probably have to do a lot more pre-filtering and dropping then they would like. -TD the FBI to grab all its traffic at the Dallas> switch a part of the pattern. And Verizon marches in step,> it too having a central intercept office in the Dallas area,> and half-dozen more in NYC for the perdurable Euro suction.> > This is not to say that all defense-fed corporations have not> been equally cooperative whether by economic inducement or> by regulatory coercion. Oh, and patriotism, kachink.> > Will any of this change under Obama? Would he dare prosecute> the spies and the lawyers who waved them on? Nobody has> ever done that.> > I'd count on the technicians running the systems to correct> the abuse not the legal-politicos who think the invasiveness is > hunky-dory. _________________________________________________________________ Send e-mail faster without improving your typing skills. http://windowslive.com/online/hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_speed_12... 008