Ever worry you’re being eavesdropped on? If you’re an AT&T customer, that’s not paranoia — that’s fact.
Recently released documents reveal telecom giant AT&T has been spying on their customers for the U.S. government for decades.
It’s something straight from the pages of a conspiracy theory forum, almost too crazy to be believed… but it’s real.
If you’ve used AT&T, it turns out they were secretly funneling your private information to the government.
It’s one of the largest privacy breaches our nation has ever seen — and the government is purchasing this personal information with the tax dollars of the very people they are spying on.
But it gets even worse. Instead of a warrant, the information is handed over on the promise that lawmakers never admit to the existence of the program.
So much for President Barack Obama’s promise for transparency.
Project Hemisphere, AT&T’s underground program that screens phone records, was exposed in 2013 by The New York Times , and the documents noted that AT&T was working with the government in order to gather evidence to pursue drug convictions.
Now AT&T’s side of the story has been uncovered, and what it reveals is shocking.
AT&T’s documents show that “Hemisphere was used far beyond the war on drugs to include everything from investigation of homicide to Medicaid fraud,” The Daily Beast reported.
Without having to acquire a warrant, the government can delve into the trove of AT&T records to extract any information they desire with ZERO requirement for probable cause.
Unlike other telecommunications companies like Verizon, who retains cell tower information for a year, AT&T is holding onto records dating all the way back to July 2008, according to a 2011 retention schedule obtained by The Daily Beast.
The New York Times reported that AT&T maintains records of every call, text message, video chat, or other communication that has gone through their service since 1987. Considering cell phones didn’t gain popularity until the 90s, AT&T could very well possess information on every phone call and text message you have ever made.
Not only is this costing American’s their privacy, it’s costing tax payer dollars as well.
The government purchased Project Hemisphere from AT&T with millions of taxpayer dollars per year.
“The NSA’s top-secret budget in 2013 for the AT&T partnership was more than twice that of the next-largest such program,” according to the New York Times.
The documents released prove AT&T was aware their actions were questionable, because they did everything possible to ensure they were not associated with government spying. One document shows AT&T’s fear, saying, “the government agency agrees not to use the data as evidence in any judicial or administrative proceedings unless there is no other available and admissible probative evidence.”
AT&T would provide the government the assurance they need to commit to spending time and resources on gathering evidence for themselves. This is referred to as parallel construction, and criticized as, “very troubling and not the way law enforcement should work in this country,” by Adam Schwartz, staff attorney for activist group Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Not only is the relationship between AT&T and the NSA alarmingly collaborative, it could lead to the government constructing false narratives as to how they obtained certain evidence in investigations, in order to honor their promise to one of America’s largest corporations.
This collaboration is setting a dangerous precedent for the future of privacy laws in our nation, and is coming into light just as AT&T is attempting to acquire Time Warner Cable.
This merger would provide them with the personal information of even more Americans, and give even more reasons for the government to continue paying AT&T with your tax dollars to spy on you.
— The Horn editorial team
There will be no privacy in the future
It appears that there is no privacy NOW!
I am sure they are in your computer and TV as well
How else would TV stations and advertisers know in close to real time what you watch? Most people don’t take the time to tell them what they watch and why they change their viewing habits. Includes computers as well- probably even more so.
If you object to what they are doing! Make a statement! Do something, even if it’s small in the beginning. Change carriers & encourage your friends & relatives to do so too. When you change, tell A T & T why & have your friends do the same. Change starts with a small ripple effect!
VOTE FOR TRUMP!
And put a piece of duct tape over the camera lens on the front of your computer!
President Obama is the one that has initiated these things and this is another reason he needs to be tried for TREASON when Donald trump is elected. We also need to have an answer to why did they use voting machines that Soros had something to do with. I would like to know what the republicans have done about it when they knew what was happening.!!! No wonder Donald Trump said that he would not accept the results of the election if these voting machines are rigged, when it already has been proved that the machines are not working right. If we don’t have some divine intervention in this election there is not much hope that the right thing will be done. But I believe we have some divine intervention already that we would have a man like Donald Trump that has come on the scene and he is not afraid to speak the truth. Also we have men like Franklin Graham that has had many prayer meetings across America and others just like our fore fathers that were used by God to start this great nation. WE BELIEVE OUR GOD WILL DO A MIRACLE.!!!
Obama got elected through voting fraud and no over Sea Military votes counted. I am sure the polls in Ohio had at least one vote for Romney. Military wouldn’t vote for Obama. Yes! Fraud in voting. Took my neighbors 3 years to get their name off voting list in our County. Do they ever get dead people off?
Best response yet, thank you.
I’m sure they ALL do it. AT&T was just the first ones busted.
Our government has been spying on us since WWII.
Yes, the spying on the public has been going on for a lot of years. It has just gotten worse and more extensive over the years. When we changed to our present voting machines, I knew that the possibility of cheating at the polls was highly enhanced. I do believe that Trump is right about the corruption at counting of the votes. We do need to do something about the vote cheating IN THIS ELECTION. Veritas has proven how the cheating is being done. Lets make the changes to clean up the cheating. That also includes the main media that is backed by THE ELITE and the Clinton political machine.
We need a bunch of hidden cameras at each polling place. Then the challenge is to get anyone to do anything about it (har dee har har). Nothing to see here, folks. Just move along, everything is ok, we promise.
Bobbie what does this have to do with Trump Hillary ? This is for the people of the united state to know we are being watched like dogs it not about the election i’am so sick of people talking about voting poles being rigged,what a bunch of bull s,,,t all of you people makeup all kinds of bull s,,t ,this election it’s like a dog and ponie show what a bunch of bullies I bet your neighbors hates to see you people your heart is rotten to the core always telling people how to vote Iam sure if someone try’s to tell you what to do you would probably think that person is out of control or better yet nuts so why don’t you people vote for whoever and shout the H up no ones cares they’re all alike it doesn’t matter and please don’t say that they are not alike because they are it’s a show and tell game it enough to make a person want to throw up.
I asked AT&T to explain the different add-on charges that have nebulous and innocent-sounding titles and found the two each customer is charged to surrender your total telecommunications usage — even your location — to the government. I ended my relationship with them, both as a customer and as a stockholder the next day.
AT&T acquired DirecTV not too long ago, to my surprise as a longtime DirecTV subscriber. Now they want to pick up Time Warner? They have to be kept under close observation and control by Congress or nothing in our national communications structure will be safe from their clutches.
Privacy in America is long gone……..Not just AT&T spying…….I suppose all those Robo-calls, with no one on the otherside, is government spying also. Otherwise they would have been dismantled a long time ago. TV’s and telephones, on the cradle, can also establish two-way survellience. Facebook, Twitter……….everything can be traced.
Read “Fahreinheit 495” and “1984”…….its all happening!
I have AT&T. I also mute my TV when commercials come on. I wish they could tell when we do mute them. I find it disgusting that TV that used to be free to the users is no longer the case. We pay a third party horrible amounts of money monthly and we don’t use all the the channels. Then there are the advertisers for commercials who make outrageous payments for commercials. Sounds a bit like double dipping at the expense of the viewere.
Have to say..if they listen in
On me…theyre already being
Punished.
We have a young dog at home, sweet but rambunctious, and if they are spying on us, they are hearing, “Stop that!” “Don’t chew!” “Don’t bite!” “Calm down” “Don’t chase the kitty!” “No, you can’t have my sandwich!” “Get off the back of the sofa!” “Don’t jump on me!” “Get away from the door!” “Don’t step on my toes!” etc., etc., etc., all day long!
They have probably long since decided to watch someone else!
THIS COUNTRY IS SO RUN BY A “SHADOW GOVERNMENT” AND THE LAWYERS, CONGRESSMEN (WOMEN) ARE ONLY IN THE GOVERNMENT “BUSINESS”‘ TO FIRST LINE THEIR POCKETS STEAL OUR TAXES FOR THEIR OWN RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS AND BY WAY OF LOBBYISTS GRAB MORE $$$$, THEY ARE GREEN WITH “GREED”.
I FOUGHT FOR THIS COUNTRY AS A GREEN BERET IN 1962 – 1966. HAD I KNOWN HOW “CORRUPT” THIS NSATION WAS AT THAT TIME–I WOULD HAVE GONE AWOL.
THIS MAKES ME SICK!!!
The problem is, there is nowhere to go; the tiny evil elite is running the whole world.
We regular people are just going to have to clean up the mess, as usual.
Demoscat doing things to create an ever growing bigger and bigger FedGov.
Krazy Killary and many demos are followers of Saul Alinsky, radical believer of socialist state, all powerful.