Illegal Spying, or "Why I'm gonna drop AT&T"

I used to work for AT&T. I used to work in a Central Office where all your copper wires from your home get hooked up to switching equipment, and later I worked in the field installing telephones.

Security? Law? I had both hanging over me in the '70's. Under pain of termination and prison, I had to sign documents that I would behave legally according to a long list of requirements. I could listen in on conversations only in the case of routine maintenance, and only for quality-related purposes. There was a case of someone who recognized a celebrity's voice during maintenance, and mentioned this to someone else, and that person was fired immediately. Even disclosing that "Mr. So-and-So" was talking at an undisclosed time to undisclosed people with undisclosed topics was enough for dismissal.

Boy, times have changed.

Snooping "on purpose" was limited to what are called "pen registers" and required a long list of documents to be signed and filed; the whole process was closely monitored. What would cause this to happen? Let's say you got a death threat, and you were able to give sufficient proof to the Police/FBI that you knew who the person was...a warrant would be issued and I would put a pen register on the equipment of the suspect. A pen register marks the phone number that a particular line would call, and it would record the time. Thus, if the suspect calls you at 18:46 on Tuesday, you can call the authorities with that information and if the suspect was the one who called you, your information would match the information on the pen register. Yup, Mr. Bad *did* call you on Tuesday at that time. And then a warrant for Mr. Bad's arrest would be issued.

The whole process was so open, documented, and official. It was only secret from the suspect, and it had a long legal audit trail.

Ever hear about the "Red Phone" in the White House? A direct line to the Kremlin. Not only were Private Lines used, but what are called STUII's were installed. This acronym stands for Secure Telephone Unit (version II), or STU-2. I got to install one for President Ronald Wilson Reagan. It was red, and it wasn't to the Kremlin.

Enough about the technology of the past. The politics of the past also had certain unsavory elements: Nixon's Enemies List, the Red Scare. You were guilty until proven innocent. Then Nixon fell, and the Nation got a whiff of what the Founding Father's tried to avoid - a corrupt Nation without checks and balances. FISA?

Now I hate terrorists - little bastards with stone hearts, damaged souls, and defective minds. I think the idea of a "war" on terrorists is wrong (there is a better way). I think that giving up what makes the US a great Country is wrong. Domestic spying is wrong. Bush is wrong. AT&T is wrong.

That's why I'm dropping AT&T as my carrier.