Adding to the controversy of the federal wiretaps issue

A retired AT&T technician has filed in support of the EFF's lawsuit regarding wholesale transfer of data from AT&T to the NSA, this describes how it was done... I think the last paragraph is particularly telling.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70621-0.html

Wiretap Whistleblower's Statement

Former AT&T technician Mark Klein has come forward to support the EFF's lawsuit against AT&T for its alleged complicity in the NSA's electronic surveillance. Here, Wired News publishes Klein's public statement in its entirety.

Statement: Mark Klein, April 6, 2006
My background:

For 22 and 1/2 years I worked as an AT&T technician, first in New York and then in California.
What I observed first-hand:

In 2002, when I was working in an AT&T office in San Francisco, the site manager told me to expect a visit from a National Security Agency agent, who was to interview a management-level technician for a special job. The agent came, and by chance I met him and directed him to the appropriate people.

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.
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We saw Ice Age 2 last night (no spoilers)

VERY fun movie! I thought the story was much better than the first Ice Age. And they had some wonderful visuals. They have a sheen on melting ice that is just wonderful to look at. And lots of antics with the squirrel and the acorn. They also do something interesting with the beavers, I liked it and Russet was unsure. There's definitely nothing preventing them from doing IA3 as long as they can come up with a good story.

Oh, and something like three dozen production babies!


We had dinner at Quiznos, they finally opened! They built one at the mall, and aside from Sonic, it's the only chain food on the north end of town. MUCH closer to the university than driving to the far side of town for food, and much tastier. Unfortunately also more expensive. It's not like the other end of town is far, it's only three miles or so, but it does take time, and when you're on a limited lunch hour, minutes count.

One thing that I love about modern electronics manufacturing

when it comes to computers is that they now make circuit boards with the solder side almost flat. When I first started working with electronics back in the 70's and 80's, you had all these little wires poking out the back of cards and hard drives, and they could really tear up your knuckles and hands. Today, they're usually almost flush with the board.

This has been important to me the last few days as I've been wiping three or four dozen hard drives prior to giving the drives away. No hand abuse!