Andrew and Webb talk NSA, AT&T, MLB, NBA, NFL, Amazon, Twitter, and other stuff.
iTunes SubscriptionRSS Subscription- Machine Compatible episode 48 recorded Tuesday, September 1,2015
- What we’re covering
- Quick Story or funny thought
- What did you do?
- Andrew
- Up to season 6 on Castle, closing in on the finish line
- sixcolors.com
- Playing a little indie game called FTL. I’ve got almost 40 hours played on that bad boy now.
- Webb
- MLB
- 2 fantasy football drafts (possibly a third, which would match my all-time high)
- Code of Conduct by Brad Thor
- The Insider Threat by Brad Taylor
- Big Story (Pick a story from the lineup to hi-light)
- NSA apparently has a great relationship with AT&T. So that’s…horrifying.
- "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.’"
- "AT&T has given the NSA access, through several methods covered under different legal rules, to billions of emails as they have flowed across its domestic networks. It provided technical assistance in carrying out a secret court order permitting the wiretapping of all Internet communications at the United Nations headquarters, a customer of AT&T."
- "One document reminds NSA officials to be polite when visiting AT&T facilities, noting: 'This is a partnership, not a contractual relationship.’"
- The documents don’t mention AT&T specifically, but the evidence in the documents implicate AT&T and former NSA members have confirmed it
- A Fairview fiber-optic cable, damaged in the 2011 earthquake in Japan, was repaired on the same date as a Japanese-American cable operated by AT&T.
- Fairview documents use technical jargon specific to AT&T.
- And in 2012, the Fairview program carried out the court order for surveillance on the Internet line, which AT&T provides, serving the United Nations headquarters. (NSA spying on United Nations diplomats has previously been reported, but not the court order or AT&T’s involvement. In October 2013, the United States told the United Nations that it would not monitor its communications.)
- AT&T’s “corporate relationships provide unique accesses to other telecoms and I.S.P.s,” or Internet service providers, one 2013 NSA document states.
- AT&T’s reaction:
- “We do not voluntarily provide information to any investigating authorities other than if a person’s life is in danger and time is of the essence,” Brad Burns, an AT&T spokesman, said. He declined to elaborate.
- The Lineup
- Social and Feedback