A few days ago I posted on why Michael Hayden should not be confirmed as the new CIA director. (5/9/06)
One reader commented, indicating just how much bigger this was than the failure of the NSA to get FISA approval on surveillance of international communications. He wrote:
Narus Ltd.==
Under Gen. Michael V. Hayden the NSA has forced tecom companies to implement massive domestic spying hardware. Even though Gen. Hayden has said at the National Press Club that "As the director, I was the one responsible to ensure that this program was limited in its scope and disciplined in its application." The NarusInsight is one type of domestic spying hardware. Capable of monitoring 10 billion bits of data per second in real-time. This means the NarusInsight can monitor an OC-192 in realtime. For reference 10 billion bits is 10 million Kbts, divide that by the average DSL user witch is 256 Kbts (10000000/256) you get monitoring of 39062.5 DSL lines in realtime for every piece of hardware. After data capture Narus softeware can replay data. What does this mean well acrodding too Narus website "Capabilities include playback of streaming media (for example, VoIP), rendering of Web pages, examination of e-mails and the ability to analyze the payload/attachments of e-mail or file transfer protocols." Think of it as Tivo for the internet able to replay 39000 US DSL users activity in realtime for every piece of hardware.They talk about limits but this hardware is anything but [limited]
References:
Narus Ltd http://narus.com
Wired News published an article on April 7, 2006 about a whistle-blower, a retired AT&T employee, who had observed an NSA agent specially interviewing and hiring someone who would work in a secret room at AT&T in San Francisco. "The secret room also included data-mining equipment called a Narus STA 6400," which was frequently used by government spy agencies. He was able to confirm that cables from the secret room were tapping into AT&T's Internet service.'
AT&T is a large customer of Narus, and the company even lists AT&T as a 'partner.'
William P. Crowell, a director on the Board of Narus, held "a series of senior positions at the National Security Agency, including Deputy Director of Operations and Deputy Director of the Agency." He currently serves on the Defense Advanced Research Agency Task Force on Terrorism and Deterrence.
The San Jose Mercury News wrote that the CEO of Narus, Greg Olshan, "said the company's software is designed to allow carriers to monitor all Internet traffic, including Web searches, e-mail content and attachments, and Internet phone calls.
(emphasis added)
Scary Stuff.
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