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LucidDream
Hungry BlueFiend



Registered: 05/09/03
Posts: 1,496
Loc: Planet of the Stupid Peop...
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AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic
#7605860 - 11/07/07 07:59 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Some new wrinkles in an old story. It's not just foreign-to-foreign communications the NSA is sweeping up, nor even domestic-to-foreign: it includes all domestic telephone and internet traffic, and it's not just sweeping for patterns and metadata - they're collecting and analyzing content as well:
Quote:
"What the heck is the NSA doing here?" Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician, said he asked himself.
Contrary to the government's depiction of its surveillance program as aimed at overseas terrorists, Klein said, much of the data sent through AT&T to the NSA was purely domestic. Klein said he believes that the NSA was analyzing the records for usage patterns as well as for content.
He said the NSA built a special room to receive data streamed through an AT&T Internet room containing "peering links," or major connections to other telecom providers. The largest of the links delivered 2.5 gigabits of data -- the equivalent of one-quarter of the Encyclopedia Britannica's text -- per second, said Klein, whose documents and eyewitness account form the basis of one of the first lawsuits filed against the telecom giants after the government's warrantless-surveillance program was reported in the New York Times in December 2005.
"That's when my antennas started to go up," he said. He knew that the NSA was supposed to work on overseas signals intelligence.
The job entailed building a "secret room" in an AT&T office 10 blocks away, he said. By coincidence, in October 2003, Klein was transferred to that office and assigned to the Internet room. He asked a technician there about the secret room on the 6th floor, and the technician told him it was connected to the Internet room a floor above. The technician, who was about to retire, handed him some wiring diagrams.
"That was my 'aha!' moment," Klein said. "They're sending the entire Internet to the secret room."
The diagram showed splitters, glass prisms that split signals from each network into two identical copies. One fed into the secret room, the other proceeded to its destination, he said.
"This splitter was sweeping up everything, vacuum-cleaner-style," he said. "The NSA is getting everything. These are major pipes that carry not just AT&T's customers but everybody's."
One of Klein's documents listed links to 16 entities, including Global Crossing, a large provider of voice and data services in the United States and abroad; UUNet, a large Internet provider in Northern Virginia now owned by Verizon; Level 3 Communications, which provides local, long-distance and data transmission in the United States and overseas; and more familiar names such as Sprint and Qwest. It also included data exchanges MAE-West and PAIX, or Palo Alto Internet Exchange, facilities where telecom carriers hand off Internet traffic to each other.
"I flipped out," he said. "They're copying the whole Internet. There's no selection going on here. Maybe they select out later, but at the point of handoff to the government, they get everything."
Another document showed that the NSA installed in the room a semantic traffic analyzer made by Narus, which Klein said indicated that the NSA was doing content analysis.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/07/AR2007110700006.html
-------------------- Sarcasm just one of my many talents.
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,372
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: LucidDream]
#7606207 - 11/07/07 10:13 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
LucidDream said: they're collecting and analyzing content as well:
Pardon my ignorance, but if they're collecting every bit of data sent through the internet, and every phone conversation taking place in the U.S. where are they storing the data?
More importantly, with such an enormous amount of data, how are they able to analyze it to find anything useful?
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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afoaf
CEO DBK?



Registered: 11/08/02
Posts: 32,665
Loc: Ripple's Heart
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: badchad]
#7606291 - 11/07/07 10:32 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Autonomy.com
one of the principle funders is Richard Perle.
they acquired the company I worked for in 2003ish...
my company made software that could recognize faces, voices, decipher on screen text and generally scrub video/audio feeds for key words and phrases.
there are an array of companies out there, not the least of which is Bell Laboratories that makes software that could easily do exactly that.
Autonomy bundles a wide array of technologies, including the Verity search engine to index all this metadata and make it searchable.
As for storing the data...that's not that big a deal if you have the funds to build a data warehouse....especially if you have technology that pulls out items of interest and saves off just those chunks.
-------------------- All I know is The Growery is a place where losers who get banned here go.
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LucidDream
Hungry BlueFiend



Registered: 05/09/03
Posts: 1,496
Loc: Planet of the Stupid Peop...
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: badchad]
#7606395 - 11/07/07 11:00 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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NSA has what is probably the largest computer network in the world, costing billions of dollars. I highly recommend James Bamford's two books on NSA, The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets.
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Mushmonkey
shiftlesslayabout


Registered: 09/25/03
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: afoaf]
#7606765 - 11/07/07 12:33 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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so basically what's going on here is, they're in our phone lines steelin our internetz?
more power to them, 2.5 gigaBITS, not BYTES a second is really.. really not that much. and over half of it is probably spam, or pr0n. hell probably 3/4 of it.
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BrAiN
Art Fag

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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: Mushmonkey]
#7607037 - 11/07/07 01:38 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Well.. normally I wouldn't be worried either because there's too much information to sift through.... but apparently they found a lazer beam capable of scanning and analyzing massive amounts of data. Below is a picture of the new secret weapon used by the gov't:

WUUAAAHHH!!!!!!!
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elbisivni
Registered: 10/01/06
Posts: 2,839
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: Mushmonkey]
#7607381 - 11/07/07 03:18 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Mushmonkey said: so basically what's going on here is, they're in our phone lines steelin our internetz?
you just couldn't help yourself could you?
-------------------- From dust you are made and to dust you shall return.
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Luddite
I watch Fox News


Registered: 03/23/06
Posts: 2,946
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: LucidDream]
#7607484 - 11/07/07 03:44 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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With all the juvenile delinquents on the internet threatening to kill Bush, I can understand why they want to monitor everything.
They're watching you from above, too.
longitude latitude
-76.92116; 38.97821 -76.92127; 38.97808
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/advfind.aspx
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/advfind.aspx?panel=Decimal
Edited by Luddite (11/07/07 03:46 PM)
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LucidDream
Hungry BlueFiend



Registered: 05/09/03
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: Luddite]
#7608312 - 11/07/07 06:48 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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gluke bastid
Stinky Bum



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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: LucidDream]
#7610325 - 11/08/07 09:31 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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This is insane. I'm no lawyer, but isn't this illegal?
I do not approve.
--------------------
Society in every form is a blessing, but government at its best is but a necessary evil - Thomas Paine
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: gluke bastid]
#7610348 - 11/08/07 09:45 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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> I'm no lawyer, but isn't this illegal?
What law is being broken? They wouldn't be able to use anything they recorded (without a warrant) in court.
> I do not approve.
Since I am not remotely close to being a terrorist, I really don't care if they record me or not. The moment they give law enforcement access to the data they are gathering, then we have a problem.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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The_Red_Crayon
Exposer of Truth


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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: LucidDream]
#7610995 - 11/08/07 12:30 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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They must do a bad job of it, MEMRI has documented itleast 25 major Jihadi forums and websites that distribute propaganda videos and communiques all hosted on American and Western isps.
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zappaisgod
horrid asshole


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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: The_Red_Crayon]
#7611619 - 11/08/07 03:12 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
The_Red_Crayon said: They must do a bad job of it, MEMRI has documented itleast 25 major Jihadi forums and websites that distribute propaganda videos and communiques all hosted on American and Western isps.
Amazing how this program has essentially brought free speech to an end. NAZIS!
--------------------
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LucidDream
Hungry BlueFiend



Registered: 05/09/03
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Loc: Planet of the Stupid Peop...
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: Seuss]
#7611759 - 11/08/07 03:45 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said: > I'm no lawyer, but isn't this illegal?
What law is being broken?
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It also violates the Fourth Amendment against warrantless searches.
Quote:
They wouldn't be able to use anything they recorded (without a warrant) in court.
Actually, when using information of this sort in a court, they show it to the judge in camera, and they cite national security as the reason it must remain private. In the cases against people held in Gitmo, they generally are not even allowed to see the evidence against them.
Quote:
Since I am not remotely close to being a terrorist, I really don't care if they record me or not.
It's not just about being a terrorist. It's about anyone the people in power decides is not one of them. Already we have the military monitoring anti-war groups again, just like the good old days of COINTELPRO. Any activity that you engage in that the powers that be decide is inappropriate will land you on a list. Speak up against the Bush administration? Hmm, you might not be able to fly on airplanes anytime in the near future. In the wrong hands, this information will be used to further erode civil liberties. And the definition of "terrorist" is expanding all the time.
-------------------- Sarcasm just one of my many talents.
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kristofer
Oneironaut


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Loc: Indianapolis
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: LucidDream]
#7612694 - 11/08/07 08:30 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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it's true.. my buddy was just interviewed for a job at the nsa and they were bringing up conversations between the two of us in his polygraph from over 5 years ago.
-------------------- dewbie dewbie dew
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elbisivni
Registered: 10/01/06
Posts: 2,839
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: kristofer]
#7612710 - 11/08/07 08:34 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Mind if I ask what the topics and methods of discussion were in these conversations?
-------------------- From dust you are made and to dust you shall return.
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Glacier Creek
The Chef


Registered: 09/23/07
Posts: 384
Loc: PNW
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: elbisivni]
#7612754 - 11/08/07 08:43 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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--------------------
  Google "Earthly Info" to find my mushroom recipes. #1 baby.. yeah... WARNING: All messages posted under this profile are actually algorithmicly generated by an AI computer program. No truth or actual events are being generated, and as a result cannot be investigated for thier validity. (message 2345433)
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elbisivni
Registered: 10/01/06
Posts: 2,839
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: Glacier Creek]
#7612997 - 11/08/07 10:00 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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-------------------- From dust you are made and to dust you shall return.
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afoaf
CEO DBK?



Registered: 11/08/02
Posts: 32,665
Loc: Ripple's Heart
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: LucidDream]
#7613013 - 11/08/07 10:03 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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-------------------- All I know is The Growery is a place where losers who get banned here go.
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LucidDream
Hungry BlueFiend



Registered: 05/09/03
Posts: 1,496
Loc: Planet of the Stupid Peop...
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Re: AT&T whistleblower says NSA collecting all domestic internet traffic [Re: afoaf]
#7615313 - 11/09/07 01:29 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Thanks for the link. Everyone should watch this.
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