NYT, `AT&T helped U.S. spy on Internet on a vast scale`

It has turned out that AT&T, the second largest mobile carrier in the U.S., had taken part in eavesdropping program of National Security Agency (NSA) from early 2000 to recently. The New York Times reported on Saturday that the analysis on newly disclosed NSA documents show “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.”

Although it has been widely known that U.S. intelligence offices has eavesdropped citizens with the help from mobile carriers since the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, this is the first time that the name of a particular company involved has been revealed. The New York Times article was based on the analysis on confidential documents provided by former agency contractor Edward J. Snowden, which were jointly reviewed by ProPublica, independent non-profit newsroom.

The documents say that AT&T has participated at the NSA’s program called “Fairview.” The Fairview is a program that collects information of accounts, passcode, search records from the internet traffic of submarine fiber-optic cable. Other NSA programs such Stormbrew, Blarney Oakstar are known as similar ones with Fairview.

The New York Times reported that the relationship between the NSA and AT&T began in 1985. In 2001 when the U.S. Patriot Act was passed, AT&T provided massive personal information to the NSA. In 2003, the mobile carrier gave more than 1 million personal emails a day, continuing the honeymoon relations. It gave technical support when the NSA wiretapped the Internet communication of the UN Headquarter. It was also revealed that surveillance equipment has been installed in more than 17 Internet hubs on American soil. The documents didn’t directly mention the name of the company but, given the stated information such as market share, the New York Times reported that it is certain the company involved is AT&T.

The largest mobile carrier Verizon is also mentioned in the report. The newspaper said, “The documents also show that another program, code-named Stormbrew, has included Verizon which developed new eavesdropping technology at the request of the NSA.” The NSA’s budget in 2013 for the AT&T partnership was 188.90 million U.S. dollars, more than twice that of Verizon.

The indiscriminate collecting of information by the NSA in cooperation with mobile carriers has been revealed through multiple times of disclose. In 2006, former AT&T engineer Mark Klein disclosed that “AT&T gives information of emails and phone calls of American citizens who have nothing do to with terrorist activities,” and in 2013, Snowden made it public PRISM, NSA’s clandestine program that collects personal information, that caused global indignation. In June this year, the U.S. Congress passed the USA Freedom Act that prohibits the NSA from bulk collection of telecommunication.

The New York Times reported that the NSA, AT&T and Verizon said, “We don’t comment on matters of national security.” It also reported that it is not clear if the programs still operate in the same way today since the Snowden revelations set off a global debate over surveillance.

snow@donga.com