thomas

TIL that Mark Klein passed away last month.

Mark was the whistleblower who in 2006 revealed the NSA’s dragnet operations at AT&T’s nationwide backbone facilities that warrantlessly siphon all data traffic regardless of origin and destination for surveillance purposes.

The program was secretly authorized as a direct result of the 2001 Patriot Act, itself enacted a month after the 9/11 attacks.

A lawsuit filed against AT&T by the EFF after Mark’s revelations was dismissed after a retroactive law was enacted that gave immunity to all telco operators involved.

A quarter century later, the program has only expanded and is now fully normalized.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A