Tag: internet

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Evidence of AT&T Secret ‘Spy’ Room Mounts

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit earlier this year against AT&T for their collaboration in invading privace by data-mining and providing wiretaps for the National Security Agency.

Last week, Wired broke the news of an affidavit filed by Mark Klein, a former AT&T employee. Klein describes a shady scenario in which the NSA came in to oversee a special hire.

“I learned that the person whom the NSA interviewed for the secret job was the person working to install equipment in this room,” Klein wrote. “The regular technician work force was not allowed in the room.”

He later observed that fiber optic cables wired to the “secret room” were piped into AT&T’s circuits.

While the president may or may not have the constitutional authority to demand domestic wiretaps, the involvement of a public corporation willingly cooperating without a warrant would seem to be a violation.

Michael Hiltzik writes in his L.A. Times weblog:

The NSA’s vacuuming of terabytes of personal data from AT&T’s network is an example of the government aggressively taking advantage of a tattered fabric of privacy protection.

Klein may seem a hero to some, for stepping forward with a smoking gun that has At&T scrambling to ask the judge to return all of their “highly classified” NSA-related documents. But as Martin McKeay reminds, Klein’s actions will be viewed by some as a criminal disclosure of government secrets.

Either way, this story has exploded with this new twist and is now receiving broad coverage.

Klein may be just a disgruntled former employee, but would he really take such a risk if he didn’t have the truth on his side?

Ars Technica has an in-depth look at the technology involved in this case and the Narus STA 6400, which apparently can literally vacuum data from the internet.

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And… We’re Back!!!

My apologies for the feigned death of Everything Between over the weekend… call it a classic weekend bender as the site celebrated a bit too hard in its transition into flashier, more spacious digs over at BlueHost.

After a bumpy .sql upload and multiple re-upping, we have landed. And the view is great. (as an aside, the Cubs swept the Cardinals, further proof that this MAY BE THE YEAR)!

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Cory Doctorow to Join USC Center on Public Diplomacy

Cory DoctorowVery exciting news announced this week for those of us involved in the study and facilitation of public diplomacy…

From the USC press release:

Canadian novelist and technology visionary Cory Doctorow will join the USC Center on Public Diplomacy as a visiting scholar beginning in September, the Canadian Fulbright Commission announced.

Doctorow, who edits the widely read culture and technology blog site Boing Boing, will be the first to hold the Canada-U.S. Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Public Diplomacy.

[…]”I’m looking forward to being part of the academic discourse on the ways that technology can either liberate or control us,” Doctorow said.

In addition to his work at Boing Boing, Cory regularly releases podcasts of his literary works at his website, CrapHound.

Doctorow was a staff member for several years (and remains a fellow) at the Electronic Frontiers Foundation.
Get your Che Doctorow t-shirts at Giant Robot now.

(This blogger is particularly psyched as he will have the privilege of working with Cory as the primary web editor for the USC Center on Public Diplomacy).

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Show me the $$$

Facebook, the MySpace-like social networking website based on University-affiliations, is on the block and seeking more than a few dimes.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg took Facebook live just two years ago, while a sophomore at Harvard. After recently turning down an offer for $750 million and seeing Facebook’s growth stagnate, he is now seeking up to $2 billion for the popular website, according to BusinessWeek.

Om Malik still believes he should have sold out when the money was on the table as Facebook will be hardfought to compete with the anomaly that is MySpace.

While MySpace continues making headlines as the detective’s best friend, Facebook may be best known locally for exposing the profile of Holly Ashcraft, the USC student convicted of murder for abandoning her newborn in a dumpster near campus last fall.

But many college campuses are already committed to adjusting to a campus culture future dominated by sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

UC Berkeley administrators told the Contra Costa Times:

“…Because students are so far ahead of us, we have a lot of catching up to do.” […] “If we don’t,” added student-development director Jerlena Griffin-Desta, “we’re missing a whole shift in the culture.”

MySpace fetched nearly $600 million last year when Rupert Murdoch swallowed it whole. Facebook’s audience is not nearly as huge, however, as noted at TechCrunch, it is used by 85% of all college students.

$2 billion is a ridiculous amount of money for a social networking site, but, alas, not three weeks ago Viacom announced its interest in combatting Rupe mano-a-mano.