Privacy

So I was over at Wired and stumbled across an article that discusses the NSA IP tapping. As a matter of disclosure you can find out if your traffic is going over an At&T network and therefore is subject to NSA snooping. Read below:

If you're a Windows user, fire up an MS-DOS command prompt. Now type tracert followed by the domain name of the website, e-mail host, VoIP switch, or whatever destination you're interested in. Watch as the program spits out your route, line by line.

C:\> tracert nsa.gov



1 2 ms 2 ms 2 ms 12.110.110.204

[...]

7 11 ms 14 ms 10 ms as-0-0.bbr2.SanJose1.Level3.net [64.159.0.218]

8 13 12 19 ms ae-23-56.car3.SanJose1.Level3.net [4.68.123.173]

9 18 ms 16 ms 16 ms 192.205.33.17

10 88 ms 92 ms 91 ms tbr2-p012201.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.13.186]

11 88 ms 90 ms 88 ms tbr1-cl2.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.10.41]

12 89 ms 97 ms 89 ms tbr1-cl4.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.122.10.29]

13 89 ms 88 ms 88 ms ar2-a3120s6.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.123.8.65]

14 102 ms 93 ms 112 ms 12.127.209.214

15 94 ms 94 ms 93 ms 12.110.110.13

16 * * *

17 * * *

18 * *


In the above example, my traffic is jumping from Level 3 Communications to AT&T's network in San Francisco, presumably over the OC-48 circuit that AT&T tapped on February 20th, 2003, according to the Klein docs.

The magic string you're looking for is sffca.ip.att.net. If it's present immediately above or below a non-att.net entry, then -- by Klein's allegations -- your packets are being copied into room 641A, and from there, illegally, to the NSA.

Of course, if Marcus is correct and AT&T has installed these secret rooms all around the country, then any att.net entry in your route is a bad sign.

if you are on a Mac you can open the terminal.app and type the same thing as above.

The bolded entry is the AT&T "tap room".

If you see that entry you have just had your privacy invaded by the US government. If you are a US citizen then the tapping of your communication without a warrant is against the law as:

a) you have not committed a crime.
b) you are making a domestic communique which cannot by law be intercepted without a warrant.

You may want to consider hiring a lawyer.

original Wired posting:
http://blog.wired.com/27BStroke6/#1510938

Technorati Tags: privacy, US Constitution