AT&T whistleblower tech vindicated by the revelation of PRISM

[thewayne]

In 2006, Mark Klein was working for AT&T in San Francisco and learned about a room that only a very small group of techs had access to that all internet lines passed through. He suspected that it was being used to siphon all data on the internet and pass it to the government. He later learned that similar/identical rooms were installed in other major switching centers across the country.

Turns out he was correct, his suspicions were vindicated by Snowden's release of information on PRISM.

Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, revealed in 2006 that his job duties included connecting internet circuits to a splitting cabinet that led to a secret room in AT&T’s San Francisco office. During the course of that work, he learned from a co-worker that similar cabins were being installed in other cities, including Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego, he said.

The split circuits included traffic from peering links connecting to other internet backbone providers, meaning that AT&T was also diverting traffic routed from its network to or from other domestic and international providers, Klein said.

That’s how the data was being vacuumed to the government, Klein said today.

“This is a complete vindication,” Klein, a San Francisco Bay area retired man, said in a telephone interview.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/06/nsa-whistleblower-klein/

Comments

[silveradept]

That's twice now that someone has suspected the government of spying on its own people as part of their work and they've been right. What I want to know is why those people who are supposedly in charge of oversight haven't gotten on making it so that there isn't spying on domestic citizens in contravention of the law and their charter.