Mark Klein, AT&T Whistleblower Who Revealed NSA Mass Spying, Has Died (eff.org) 14
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the EFF: EFF is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Mark Klein, a bona fide hero who risked civil liability and criminal prosecution to help expose a massive spying program that violated the rights of millions of Americans. Mark didn't set out to change the world. For 22 years, he was a telecommunications technician for AT&T, most of that in San Francisco. But he always had a strong sense of right and wrong and a commitment to privacy. When the New York Times reported in late 2005 that the NSA was engaging in spying inside the U.S., Mark realized that he had witnessed how it was happening. He also realized that the President was not telling Americans the truth about the program. And, though newly retired, he knew that he had to do something. He showed up at EFF's front door in early 2006 with a simple question: "Do you folks care about privacy?"
We did. And what Mark told us changed everything. Through his work, Mark had learned that the National Security Agency (NSA) had installed a secret, secure room at AT&T's central office in San Francisco, called Room 641A. Mark was assigned to connect circuits carrying Internet data to optical "splitters" that sat just outside of the secret NSA room but were hardwired into it. Those splitters -- as well as similar ones in cities around the U.S. -- made a copy of all data going through those circuits and delivered it into the secret room. Mark not only saw how it works, he had the documents to prove it. He brought us over a hundred pages of authenticated AT&T schematic diagrams and tables. Mark also shared this information with major media outlets, numerous Congressional staffers, and at least two senators personally. One, Senator Chris Dodd, took the floor of the Senate to acknowledge Mark as the great American hero he was.
We did. And what Mark told us changed everything. Through his work, Mark had learned that the National Security Agency (NSA) had installed a secret, secure room at AT&T's central office in San Francisco, called Room 641A. Mark was assigned to connect circuits carrying Internet data to optical "splitters" that sat just outside of the secret NSA room but were hardwired into it. Those splitters -- as well as similar ones in cities around the U.S. -- made a copy of all data going through those circuits and delivered it into the secret room. Mark not only saw how it works, he had the documents to prove it. He brought us over a hundred pages of authenticated AT&T schematic diagrams and tables. Mark also shared this information with major media outlets, numerous Congressional staffers, and at least two senators personally. One, Senator Chris Dodd, took the floor of the Senate to acknowledge Mark as the great American hero he was.
The old black lab (Score:5, Insightful)
It's amazing how quickly the media erased all signs of this after it was proven. This was definite proof the NSA was up to pure bad, and it made a lot of noise (on this website, before it became a corporate shill) but disappeared almost as quickly.
That should have been the first sign our country was on a dark path that led us to the collapse we're in today.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
roflmao "first"
Re:The old black lab (Score:4, Insightful)
I guess the fact it isn't a regular punching bag for the news organisations says they are complicit in the current dark path.
I honestly think proving it was pointless (Score:3)
It's like how the Panama paper is told us the specifics of how the ultra wealthy avoided paying taxes. But it's not like we really needed to be told that. It's only nerdy journalist types who need to be told specifics we know it's happening and we could easily use the government to find it and stop it if we really wanted
Re:The old black lab (Score:4)
Well, by now, since everyone has its own personal wiretap in the pocket (smartphone) that constantly listens and report all activity to the big data companies, they no longer need this fancy stuff in secret rooms.
Privacy no longer matters to anyone, so there's no news to this, or the people just don't care enough for the news outlet to care about the subject.
Re: (Score:1)
I've experienced that kind of suppression first hand. Erased from Google search results.
Someone also purchased a domain recently, just to attempt to suppress my open-source project.
I founded OpenV2K, which seeks to open-source pulse modulation, of the microwave auditory effect.
Okay I *was* out to change the world, but I'm just an IT guy, also with a strong sense of right and wrong.
I realized that I had an engineering grasp on how "V2K" was possible, so I pr
Kind of ironic (Score:1, Interesting)
Unfortunate accident (Score:1)
Note: the NSA got away with it... (Score:4, Interesting)
No consequences for breaking the law. I wonder whether the Orange One got the idea that the law could be ignored from this...
Re: (Score:1)
RIP (Score:2)
R.I.P.
I'm glad he exposed it (Score:2)
Until late 2001, I was a test engineer at the company that built the core router that enabled this. I wasn't involved in the No Such Agency part of it, but knew we were building the routing capability. All clients were initially only known by code names. AT&T was Zeus. Still have the shirt commemorating the first OC-192C coast to coast routing. That was when we could finally acknowledge AT&T as a client.
Sadly I don't recall MCI or other client code names.
Coincidentally, the company ceased to be s