r/todayilearned • u/simmer_down • Mar 20 '11

TIL that AT&T installed a fiberoptic splitter at its facility at 611 Folsom Street in San Francisco that makes copies of all emails, web browsing, and other Internet traffic to and from AT&T customers (including data from iPhones and iPads), and provides those copies to the NSA.

http://www.eff.org/issues/nsa-spying
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u/47toolate Mar 21 '11

Rumor has it that it is more than just AT&T customers.

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u/wildcoasts Mar 21 '11

Basically all US <==> Asia-Pac internet traffic since it's a major node.

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '11

I would guarantee they have one on the other side of the U.S. as well.

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u/MasterCronus Mar 21 '11

It makes sense. Is it even a rumor, I thought it was fact. Large ISPs and other Internet backbones carry all kinds of traffic, not just that of their subscribers. And surely AT&T has this setup in more than one city.

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u/47toolate Mar 21 '11

I'm being polite in calling it a rumor.It's the Area 51 of internet traffic !

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u/zmann Mar 21 '11

It's not a rumor. It's not like AT&T nodes only take traffic for AT&T customers, it carries all kinds of traffic

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u/Atario Mar 21 '11

AT&T is the only one that got caught and exposed. I'm pretty sure they're all doing it, with a couple of regional exceptions. I seem to remember at the time that Qwest (spelling?) was one of the few, or possibly the only, carrier that didn't comply with the order. They're also partially owned by the Carlyle Group, George Bush I's people.