The lawsuit by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) against AT&T alleging that the latter has illegally provided access to its voice and data network, in addition to its databases of customers' calls and e-mails, has been reported on here at Daily Kos. We know from
diaries by Siberian,
front page stories by mcjoan, and
stories in the New York Times, that the government and AT&T have been trying to suppress public airing of testimony and documents related to their collaboration together.
In a story in today's San Francisco Chronicle, we are informed of a well-needed victory in the fight against wireless, warrantless wiretapping, otherwise known as the War against the Constitution.
AT&T was turned down by a federal judge Tuesday in its 11th-hour attempt to bar the public from a San Francisco court hearing today about documents that allegedly show the company's involvement in a secret government electronic surveillance program.
UPDATE: (2:21 PDT) AP reports that Judge Walker is keeping the docs sealed, though allowing them to be used in the lawsuit. AT&T had wanted the docs returned to them. LINK
(more...)
An AT&T lawyer sent a letter by fax to Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker on Tuesday asking that the courtroom be closed "during any discussion of its trade secrets or confidential information.''
Less than an hour later, Walker notified the company's lawyer that the request was denied and that today's hearing would remain open...
The hearing is the first in EFF's class-action lawsuit against AT&T. See EFF's update on the suit here.
The lawsuit gets its punch from the documents provided by a recently retired 60 year old AT&T technician, Mark Klein, who worked in San Francisco for the megacorporation. His amicus brief in the case can be viewed here. In a statement to his attorneys made on April 6, 2006, Mr. Klein, a 22 yr. long employee of AT&T, said:
In January 2003, I, along with others, toured the AT&T central office on Folsom Street in San Francisco -- actually three floors of an SBC building. There I saw a new room being built adjacent to the 4ESS switch room where the public's phone calls are routed. I learned that the person whom the NSA interviewed for the secret job was the person working to install equipment in this room. The regular technician work force was not allowed in the room.
In October 2003, the company transferred me to the San Francisco building to oversee the Worldnet Internet room.... While doing my job, I learned that fiber optic cables from the secret room were tapping into the Worldnet circuits by splitting off a portion of the light signal.... The circuits listed were the Peering Links, which connect Worldnet with other networks and hence the whole country, as well as the rest of the world.
One of the documents listed the equipment installed in the secret room, and this list included a Narus STA 6400, which is a "Semantic Traffic Analyzer". The Narus STA technology is known to be used particularly by government intelligence agencies because of its ability to sift through large amounts of data looking for preprogrammed targets.
Mr. Klein went on to summarize the meaning of all this technology:
Based on my understanding of the connections and equipment at issue, it appears the NSA is capable of conducting what amounts to vacuum-cleaner surveillance of all the data crossing the internet -- whether that be peoples' e-mail, web surfing or any other data.
Bravo to Judge Walker for his ruling. But AT&T plans to appeal, and Bush administration lawyers are trying to get the entire suit dismissed for "national security" reasons.
With Russell Tice planning to testify today before the Senate Armed Services Committee today on NSA spying and warrantless wiretapping/surveillance, and the open hearing in San Francisco on how AT&T and the NSA have joined up to watch EVERYTHING we do on the Internet, the noose is tightening on the Administration's secrecy policies.
We must support the people who are fighting for our freedom. You might want to consider checking out EFF's site, for instance, and showing concrete support ($$) for their actions.
But most of all, become informed!
Some other great diaries that touch on this subject include:
This great diary yesterday by Sorceress Sarah
and this one by dhomyak
and bewert's diary on the Narus 6400 and AT&T (thanks, biscobosco)
and of course this latest by emptywheel.