[IP] EFF: Secret Surveillance Evidence Unsealed in AT&T Spying Case

Wed Jun 13 03:06:43 PDT 2007

First of all, anyone have the latest word about Cryptome?

Second of all, I took a look at these and what's becomming quite clear is 
that they don't really say that much. They basically just show how the LGXs 
are connected and interface into and out of the "secret room" via 
splitters.* It does say that a buttload of traffic is being split and sent 
off to NSA equipmet, but the real missing piece is just how that traffic 
gets back to NSA. I still believe that they just can't send back EVERYTHING, 
and have to have several layers of prioritzation, so that only fairly 
interesting traffic makes it back in real time (this is not to say that they 
don't possibly route and store uninteresting local traffic for future 
reference) but they can't get everything back to, for instance, DC in real 
time.

Another question I've had for a while is how they get around the loss 
budgets in certain cases. Dropping a 3dB splitter into an OC-48 signal 
that's pushed to the limit will result in some signficant BER degredation. 
Do they just avoid those signals? DO they put in some kind of in-line 
optical amplifier? (That's not trivial, as they have to electrically power 
such a device.)

-TD

*: On the other hand, the existence of splitters alone proves that this is 
not standard CALEA, so when the case broke this was significant. But 
technologically it's not all that interesting nor surprising (for 'paranoid' 
Cypherpunks, at least).

>From: Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org>
>To: cypherpunks at jfet.org
>Subject: [IP] EFF: Secret Surveillance Evidence Unsealed in AT&T Spying  
>Case
>Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 20:22:43 +0200
>
>----- Forwarded message from David Farber <dave at farber.net> -----
>
>From: David Farber <dave at farber.net>
>Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:08:25 -0400
>To: ip at v2.listbox.com
>Subject: [IP] EFF: Secret Surveillance Evidence Unsealed in AT&T Spying 
>Case
>X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.752.2)
>Reply-To: dave at farber.net
>
>
>
>Begin forwarded message:
>
>From: EFF Press <press at eff.org>
>Date: June 12, 2007 1:29:33 PM EDT
>To: presslist at eff.org
>Subject: [E-B] EFF: Secret Surveillance Evidence Unsealed in AT&T
>Spying Case
>Reply-To: press at eff.org
>
>Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release
>
>For Immediate Release: Tuesday, June 12, 2007
>
>Contact:
>
>Cindy Cohn
>    Legal Director
>    Electronic Frontier Foundation
>    cindy at eff.org
>    +1 415 436-9333 x108 (office), +1 415 307-2148 (cell)
>
>Kurt Opsahl
>    Senior Staff Attorney
>    Electronic Frontier Foundation
>    kurt at eff.org
>    +1 415 436-9333 x106
>
>Secret Surveillance Evidence Unsealed in AT&T Spying Case
>
>Whistleblower Declaration and Other Key Documents Released
>to Public
>
>San Francisco - More documents detailing secret government
>surveillance of AT&T's Internet traffic have been released
>to the public as part of the Electronic Frontier
>Foundation's (EFF's) class-action lawsuit against the
>telecom giant.
>
>Some of the unsealed information was previously made public
>in redacted form.  But after negotiations with AT&T, EFF
>filed newly unredacted documents describing a secret,
>secure room in AT&T's facilities that gave the National
>Security Agency (NSA) direct access to customers' emails
>and other Internet communications.  These include several
>internal AT&T documents that have long been available on
>media websites, EFF's legal arguments to the 9th Circuit,
>and the full declarations of whistleblower Mark Klein and
>of J. Scott Marcus, the former Senior Advisor for Internet
>Technology to the Federal Communications Commission, who
>bolsters and explains EFF's evidence.
>
>"This is critical evidence supporting our claim that AT&T
>is cooperating with the NSA in the illegal dragnet
>surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans," said EFF
>Legal Director Cindy Cohn.  "This surveillance is under
>debate in Congress and across the nation, as well as in the
>courts.  The public has a right to see these important
>documents, the declarations from our witnesses, and our
>legal arguments, and we are very pleased to release them."
>
>EFF filed the class-action suit against AT&T last year,
>accusing the telecom giant of illegally assisting in the
>NSA's spying on millions of ordinary Americans.  The lower
>court allowed the case to proceed and the government has
>now asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss
>the case, claiming that the lawsuit could expose state
>secrets.  EFF's newly released brief in response outlines
>how the case should go forward respecting both liberty and
>security.
>
>"The District Court rejected the government's attempt to
>sweep this case under the rug," said EFF Senior Staff
>Attorney Kurt Opsahl.  "This country has a long tradition
>of open court proceedings, and we're pleased that as we
>present our case to the Court of Appeals, the millions of
>affected AT&T customers will be able to see our arguments
>and evidence and judge for themselves."
>
>Oral arguments in the 9th Circuit appeal are set for the
>week of August 13.
>
>For the unredacted Klein declaration:
>http://eff.org/legal/cases/att/SER_klein_decl.pdf
>
>For the internal documents:
>http://eff.org/legal/cases/att/SER_klein_exhibits.pdf
>
>For the unredacted Marcus declaration:
>http://eff.org/legal/cases/att/SER_marcus_decl.pdf
>
>For EFF's 9th Circuit brief:
>http://eff.org/legal/cases/att/9thanswerbrief.pdf
>
>For more on the class-action lawsuit against AT&T:
>http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/
>
>For this release:
>http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2007_06.php#005304
>
>About EFF
>
>The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
>liberties organization working to protect rights in the
>digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
>challenges industry and government to support free
>expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
>organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
>websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/
>
>
>      -end-
>
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>----- End forwarded message -----
>--
>Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
>______________________________________________________________
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