AT&T Helped U.S. Spy on Internet on a Vast Scale

New York Times report from August:

The National Security Agency’s ability to spy on vast quantities of Internet traffic passing through the United States has relied on its extraordinary, decades-long partnership with a single company: the telecom giant AT&T.

While it has been long known that American telecommunications companies worked closely with the spy agency, newly disclosed N.S.A. 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.”

This, from the company whose CEO now says “I don’t think it is Silicon Valley’s decision to make about whether encryption is the right thing to do.”

Because of companies like AT&T and craven leaders like Randall Stephenson, it is now very clear that end-to-end strong encryption is of course the “right thing to do”.

★ Thursday, 21 January 2016