So far, so good
Friend and telecom Prosultant David Isenberg wrote an interesting post on this topic some time ago. He just published it on his isen.blog.
In the article, David reminded me that we are generally unaware of how our data is being “routed” to certain data centers where certain Three Letter Acronyms, arms of the U.S. Government, had access to everything that was passing over the network. What I found most interesting about this article was the candid way that David illustrated how things work:
I had one experience that indicates the potential success of such a modus operandi. I once got a call from a staff member of a U.S. Senator who somehow knew that I — a lowly Member of Technical Staff — was working on a project that included a facility in his state. The Senator needed a favor from AT&T. He asked me if I would help. I told my boss; a call from a Senator is a big thing. I don’t know who my boss talked to, but the Senator got his favor.
In this case, there wasn’t anything that smacked of corruption or illegality; all I’m saying is that things happened a lot faster than they would have if they’d gone through normal channels. I was a bit too skeptical to be classified as a “friendly.” Then again, this was an isolated incident, not a systematic program.
David ends his post with a very plausable Scary Scenario. It’s just a matter of time.