A report out today claims that the CIA is paying AT&T over $10 million a year for phone records to help with overseas counterterrorism investigations.
The New York Times, citing government officials, reported today that the records do include calls Americans have made internationally and that the contract is voluntary. The officials said that there have been no subpoenas or court orders mandating that AT&T cooperate.
The CIA approaches AT&T with a list of phone numbers linked to overseas terrorists and AT&T hands over phone records to held the CIA find suspected associates.
Since the CIA can’t spy on Americans domestically, there are safeguards in place within the agreement to make sure this doesn’t happen, the officials told the Times. So, if a call involves a U.S. number, the American’s identity is not revealed and there are “masks” over some of the numbers in the telephone number. However, the masked numbers can be transferred over to the FBI, who can then issue a subpoena to AT&T to get the full phone number.
According to Reuters, AT&T wouldn’t confirm its involvement in the program, but did say that taking government payments is standard operating procedure for data.
“We ensure that we maintain customer information in compliance with the laws of the United States and other countries where information may be maintained," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said in a statement. “Like all telecom providers, we routinely charge governments for producing the information provided.”
The news comes as Edward Snowden has continued to leak data on secret programs run by the National Security Agency, revealing that the agency monitors internet use and phone calls more than previously thought.
image: Wikimedia Commons
