On Fri, 7 Apr 2006, coderman wrote:

On 4/7/06, R. A. Hettinga wrote:

...

... "The evidence that we are filing supports our claim that AT&T is diverting Internet traffic into the hands of the NSA wholesale, in violation of federal wiretapping laws and the Fourth Amendment," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston.

"More than just threatening individuals' privacy, AT&T's apparent choice to give the government secret, direct access to millions of ordinary Americans' Internet communications is a threat to the Constitution itself. We are asking the Court to put a stop to it now," said Bankston.

i'm interested to see the monetary incentives behind this collaboration. when your competitors (and every other tier-3) are getting infrastructure investment and subsidy it is hard not to follow suit despite ethical qualms (if any of these carriers actually had ethical concerns before diverting traffic wholesale to the NSA).

When the NSA (via the FBI) first asked everyone to participate in these games (early 2002), I had the happy privilege of telling the FBI flunky personally that they could go to hell (at Savvis - warning, then was then, and NOT now: things have likely changed with Koen running the show now). At the time, the only incentive was "Helping your country" <barf> - if they have added financial incentives, I'd love to know how these monies could be delivered without being disclosed by the telcos. -- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org 0xBD4A95BF 'The right of self defence is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.' St. George Tucker