This is important because basically AT&T owns the pipeline that the internet (and phone lines) runs on in this country. If AT&T is giving someone access to it's infrastructure then they are giving access to everyone's web activity, not just AT&T customers.
When the federal government broke up "ma bell" in the 1980's part of the law was that they had to sell access to their infastructure to other companies at a government mandated rate. The monopoloy was broken up this way because it would be impossible for a new company to catch AT&T in terms of physical assets because AT&T has been in business since the late 1800's. In order to level the playing field the government decided to force AT&T to rent their "pipeline" to anyone.
Whistle-Blower's Evidence, Uncut
Former AT&T technician Mark Klein is the key witness in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class-action lawsuit against the telecommunications company, which alleges that AT&T cooperated in an illegal National Security Agency domestic surveillance program.
In a public statement Klein issued last month, he described the NSA's visit to an AT&T office. In an older, less-public statement recently acquired by Wired News, Klein goes into additional details of his discovery of an alleged surveillance operation in an AT&T building in San Francisco.
Klein supports his claim by attaching excerpts of three internal company documents: a Dec. 10, 2002, manual titled "Study Group 3, LGX/Splitter Wiring, San Francisco," a Jan. 13, 2003, document titled "SIMS, Splitter Cut-In and Test Procedure" and a second "Cut-In and Test Procedure" dated Jan. 24, 2003.
Here we present Klein's statement in its entirety, with inline links to all of the document excerpts where he cited them. You can also download the complete file here (pdf). The full AT&T documents are filed under seal in federal court in San Francisco.
More can be found here at wired.com
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