-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- WRT: "...the same article had Madsen stating that the NSA is vacuuming down Internet traffic. he gave the likely entry points that they are doing this." It's a virtual lead-pipe cinch that this is being done and probably has been going on for longer than anyone would like to think. In the 1960's - 1970's when international cable traffic was in its computer infancy, access was had to EVERY CABLE MESSAGE passing through the message switches of U.S. common carriers. This means no only every international cable message originating from or destined to a U.S. point, but also included every message ROUTED THROUGH the U.S., such as Europe <--> South America. There was no great skullduggery involved -- the common carriers simply made copies of their own log tapes and handed them to messengers from the, ah, FCC (ahem). It was on the operations checklist and no one thought twice about it. It may be urban legend to some, but I've seen it with my own eyes, handled the tapes with my own hands. If anyone else wishes to move this from the status of urban legend to something more solid, all they have to do is locate and ask people who worked in message switch operations at RCA Global Communications, ITT World Communications, or Western Union International, the three common carriers of that time. Knowing this, I would assume something similar was done at overseas locations of the same carriers and at such other access points as could be compromised. An organization such as NSA that viewed this as SOP would have to be brain dead not to be doing the same thing with the Internet. The only question in my mind is how far they have gone beyond USENET and the newer, fertile ground of web sites. Are they vacuuming packets and reassembling email? Just how many laser discs have been filled with coherent traffic? Time to exercise those plain, brown envelopes. We Jurgar Din (that will have to suffice: I do not yet live in a free country) +"The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone. It is to the+ +vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no + +election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now + +too late to retire from the contest." -Patrick Henry 1775 + -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQBVAwUBMP9XX0jw99YhtpnhAQEH1gH+KiIxJ3eXZCNGq5mG9UB1A68+TOLe9tCk NG170tzIBtwjlXw09B83Oxx16WineBqlZ7NJJiRazssBpFqDnWEh4A== =tUWW -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----