[ NNSquad ] Surveillance 'partnership' between NSA and telcos points to AT&T, Verizon

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

Surveillance 'partnership' between NSA and telcos points to AT&T, Verizon

http://j.mp/1dPbpvw  (CNET)

   "Even in the top-secret document published by the Guardian today, the
    firms are described only as "Company A" and "Company B." But the NSA's
    inspector general did disclose that, at the time the program was being
    formed in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the agency entered
    into the partnerships because Company A had access to 39 percent of
    international phone calls, and Company B had access to 28 percent.
    Those figures closely correspond with Federal Communications
    Commission data (PDF). The most recent figures publicly available in
    late 2001, when the carrier "partnerships" were being expanded, reveal
    that AT&T carried 38.2 percent of international minutes billed to U.S.
    carriers. MCI, now part of Verizon, carried 29.1 percent."

 - - -

Surprise level zero.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren 
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org 
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein 
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
_______________________________________________
nnsquad mailing list
http://lists.nnsquad.org/mailman/listinfo/nnsquad