NSA Spying Relies on AT&T’s ‘Extreme Willingness to Help’ by by Julia Angwin and Jeff Larson, ProPublica; Charlie Savage and James Risen, The New York Times; and Henrik Moltke and Laura Poitras, special to ProPublica.
From the post:
The National Security Agency’s ability to spy on vast quantities of Internet traffic passing through the United States has relied on its extraordinary, decades-long partnership with a single company: the telecom giant AT&T.
While it has been long known that American telecommunications companies worked closely with the spy agency, newly disclosed NSA documents show that the relationship with AT&T has been considered unique and especially productive. One document described it as “highly collaborative,” while another lauded the company’s “extreme willingness to help.”
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Timelines, source documents, analysis, sketch a damning outline of AT&T’s betrayal of its customers for more than a decade.
If you are an AT&T customer, this article is a must read. If you know someone who is an AT&T customer, please forward this article to their attention. Post it to Facebook, Twitter, etc.
You may not be able to force changes in government spy programs but as customers, collectively we can impact the bottom line of their co-conspirators.
I saw a cartoon that is a fair take on government rhetoric in this area today:
The word to pass on to vendors is: You can be my friend or a friend of the government. Choose carefully.