Ever worry you’re being eavesdropped on? If you’re an AT&T customer, that’s not paranoia — that’s fact.
Recently released documents reveal telecom giant AT&T has been spying on their customers for the U.S. government for decades.
It’s something straight from the pages of a conspiracy theory forum, almost too crazy to be believed… but it’s real.
If you’ve used AT&T, it turns out they were secretly funneling your private information to the government.
It’s one of the largest privacy breaches our nation has ever seen — and the government is purchasing this personal information with the tax dollars of the very people they are spying on.
But it gets even worse. Instead of a warrant, the information is handed over on the promise that lawmakers never admit to the existence of the program.
So much for President Barack Obama’s promise for transparency.
Project Hemisphere, AT&T’s underground program that screens phone records, was exposed in 2013 by The New York Times , and the documents noted that AT&T was working with the government in order to gather evidence to pursue drug convictions.
Now AT&T’s side of the story has been uncovered, and what it reveals is shocking.
AT&T’s documents show that “Hemisphere was used far beyond the war on drugs to include everything from investigation of homicide to Medicaid fraud,” The Daily Beast reported.
Without having to acquire a warrant, the government can delve into the trove of AT&T records to extract any information they desire with ZERO requirement for probable cause.
Unlike other telecommunications companies like Verizon, who retains cell tower information for a year, AT&T is holding onto records dating all the way back to July 2008, according to a 2011 retention schedule obtained by The Daily Beast.
The New York Times reported that AT&T maintains records of every call, text message, video chat, or other communication that has gone through their service since 1987. Considering cell phones didn’t gain popularity until the 90s, AT&T could very well possess information on every phone call and text message you have ever made.
Not only is this costing American’s their privacy, it’s costing tax payer dollars as well.
The government purchased Project Hemisphere from AT&T with millions of taxpayer dollars per year.
“The NSA’s top-secret budget in 2013 for the AT&T partnership was more than twice that of the next-largest such program,” according to the New York Times.
The documents released prove AT&T was aware their actions were questionable, because they did everything possible to ensure they were not associated with government spying. One document shows AT&T’s fear, saying, “the government agency agrees not to use the data as evidence in any judicial or administrative proceedings unless there is no other available and admissible probative evidence.”
AT&T would provide the government the assurance they need to commit to spending time and resources on gathering evidence for themselves. This is referred to as parallel construction, and criticized as, “very troubling and not the way law enforcement should work in this country,” by Adam Schwartz, staff attorney for activist group Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Not only is the relationship between AT&T and the NSA alarmingly collaborative, it could lead to the government constructing false narratives as to how they obtained certain evidence in investigations, in order to honor their promise to one of America’s largest corporations.
This collaboration is setting a dangerous precedent for the future of privacy laws in our nation, and is coming into light just as AT&T is attempting to acquire Time Warner Cable.
This merger would provide them with the personal information of even more Americans, and give even more reasons for the government to continue paying AT&T with your tax dollars to spy on you.
https://thehornnews.com/warning-major-phone-p...ht-spying/
Recently released documents reveal telecom giant AT&T has been spying on their customers for the U.S. government for decades.
It’s something straight from the pages of a conspiracy theory forum, almost too crazy to be believed… but it’s real.
If you’ve used AT&T, it turns out they were secretly funneling your private information to the government.
It’s one of the largest privacy breaches our nation has ever seen — and the government is purchasing this personal information with the tax dollars of the very people they are spying on.
But it gets even worse. Instead of a warrant, the information is handed over on the promise that lawmakers never admit to the existence of the program.
So much for President Barack Obama’s promise for transparency.
Project Hemisphere, AT&T’s underground program that screens phone records, was exposed in 2013 by The New York Times , and the documents noted that AT&T was working with the government in order to gather evidence to pursue drug convictions.
Now AT&T’s side of the story has been uncovered, and what it reveals is shocking.
AT&T’s documents show that “Hemisphere was used far beyond the war on drugs to include everything from investigation of homicide to Medicaid fraud,” The Daily Beast reported.
Without having to acquire a warrant, the government can delve into the trove of AT&T records to extract any information they desire with ZERO requirement for probable cause.
Unlike other telecommunications companies like Verizon, who retains cell tower information for a year, AT&T is holding onto records dating all the way back to July 2008, according to a 2011 retention schedule obtained by The Daily Beast.
The New York Times reported that AT&T maintains records of every call, text message, video chat, or other communication that has gone through their service since 1987. Considering cell phones didn’t gain popularity until the 90s, AT&T could very well possess information on every phone call and text message you have ever made.
Not only is this costing American’s their privacy, it’s costing tax payer dollars as well.
The government purchased Project Hemisphere from AT&T with millions of taxpayer dollars per year.
“The NSA’s top-secret budget in 2013 for the AT&T partnership was more than twice that of the next-largest such program,” according to the New York Times.
The documents released prove AT&T was aware their actions were questionable, because they did everything possible to ensure they were not associated with government spying. One document shows AT&T’s fear, saying, “the government agency agrees not to use the data as evidence in any judicial or administrative proceedings unless there is no other available and admissible probative evidence.”
AT&T would provide the government the assurance they need to commit to spending time and resources on gathering evidence for themselves. This is referred to as parallel construction, and criticized as, “very troubling and not the way law enforcement should work in this country,” by Adam Schwartz, staff attorney for activist group Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Not only is the relationship between AT&T and the NSA alarmingly collaborative, it could lead to the government constructing false narratives as to how they obtained certain evidence in investigations, in order to honor their promise to one of America’s largest corporations.
This collaboration is setting a dangerous precedent for the future of privacy laws in our nation, and is coming into light just as AT&T is attempting to acquire Time Warner Cable.
This merger would provide them with the personal information of even more Americans, and give even more reasons for the government to continue paying AT&T with your tax dollars to spy on you.
https://thehornnews.com/warning-major-phone-p...ht-spying/
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