If you want access to the overseas communication data held by one of the nation’s largest telecommunication firms, you can get it… for a price.
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As the New York Times reports Thursday, the CIA has been paying AT&T approximately $10 million a year for continued access to its overseas “metadata”—extensive records that show “the date, duration and phone numbers involved in a call.” Those records may or may not show that one end of the call is located in the United States.
The revelation shows the tacit (and voluntary) agreement and financial arrangements that the intelligence agency has made with private companies in an effort to monitor global communications. Most striking is that CIA program is conducted without the authority of subpoenas or court oversight and a legal loophole, creating by working with domestic law enforcement agencies, allows the CIA to do an end-run around the laws designed to keep it from spying on U.S. citizens.
Separate from surveillance programs run by the National Security Agency or those otherwise divulged by documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the ongoing agreement, according to unnamed officials who spoke to the Times, is “conducted under a voluntary contract, not under subpoenas or court orders compelling the company to participate.”
In essence, by working in tandem—and leveraging the available metadata provided by the telecom company for a price—the CIA and FBI can create a complete view of international phone records, including phone calls made or received by U.S. citizens.
As the Times reports:
As the reporting also reminds readers, AT&T has a lengthy and troubling history of working closely with government intelligence agencies to spy on its customers when asked:
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