Solitude and Hope: Y'all Come Visit!

On May 25, 2006, Sci-Tech-Today reported that Wired News had published documents on May 22nd that reportedly provide evidence that AT&T installed secret equipment enabling the National Security Agency to spy on AT&T’s customers.

The 29-page online file published by Wired is said to be the complete statement given by former AT&T technician Mark Klein. Klein is a key witness in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s class-action lawsuit against AT&T. The statement warns about the AT&T’s alleged collaboration with the federal National Security Agency (NSA) and provides technical information to support the wiretapping claim, along with a description of a "secret equipment room" used for eavesdropping.

Evan Hansen of Wired News stated, "We did not obtain the documents from Mark Klein but from an anonymous source." At that time, it was not known whether Wired could face any legal action as a result of its decision to publish the documents.

Specialists in the intelligence area state that the documents that were released do show that a secret facility is being maintained by AT&T with participation from NSA. However, they have suggested that the released material doesn’t provide clear evidence of exactly what the NSA and AT&T are doing in this facility. This more cautious approach to interpreting the materials points out that over the years, there have been many inflated claims about the NSA's technical ability to monitor telephone conversations."