National Journal: "NSA Sought Data Before 9/11"
"Beginning in February 2001, almost seven months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the government's top electronic eavesdropping organization, the National Security Agency, asked a major U.S. telecommunications carrier for information about its customers and the flow of electronic traffic across its network, according to sources familiar with the request," Shane Harris reported in the National Journal. "The carrier, Qwest Communications, refused, believing that the request was illegal unless accompanied by a court order."
According to the article, the purpose behind the pre-9/11 request was to "watch for computer hackers and foreign-government forces trying to penetrate and compromise U.S. government information system." Although Qwest was unwilling to go along with the request, Harris reported that "some companies were willing to offer data and to assist the government 'as necessary' on a voluntary basis, without a court order."
Qwest was working with the Pentagon on other matters prior to 9/11, according to Harris, although "the NSA's specific request for an Echelon-like program may have worried Qwest's attorneys." [Echelon is "a signals intelligence network operated by the NSA and its official counterparts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom."]
The question of Qwest's involvement with the NSA before 9/11 has surfaced in recent weeks because of [former Qwest CEO] Nacchio's appeal of his criminal conviction on 19 counts of insider trading. Nacchio was sentenced to six years in prison in July, but he remains free pending his appeal. He contends that the NSA retaliated against Qwest for not complying with its request by denying the company work under a multibillion-dollar program called Groundbreaker, which outsourced the NSA's unclassified information-technology systems.
Written By:Douglas Kahn On November 3, 2007 12:58 PM
When a customer of Comcast signs up for cable internet access, he or she has to call in to Comcast technical support to 'register' the modem to be used, which can be supplied by Comcast or bought independently. The technical support people (who are located in Toronto, Canada) demand the modem's unique serial number and other identifying numbers. Once these are supplied, they ask that the computer to be used be connected, on the pretext that, due to technical issues, the internet cannot be accessed absent a direct Comcast connection to the user's computer. Long discussions ensue should the customer suggest that a router (for instance, an Apple-supplied Airport device) is connected instead. The customer wins this argument, and the internet service is established.
Question:
Since the information provided by the customer establishes Comcast's ability to automatically route all internet look-up requests, if they route the traffic through Canada, does that subject the customer to the provisions of the Patriot Act which allow surveillance of communications through foreign countries?