Filings Detail AT&T Spying Cooperation

Court filings show that a former technician with AT&T testified that the company cooperated with the National Security Agency in 2003 to install surveillance equipment. The equipment, located in a separate room in AT&T's San Francisco hub, was capable of performing large-scale surveillance of the company's customers.

The former employee's statement, as well as several documents saved by him after he left the company in 2004, shows further evidence of domestic spying initiatives by the federal government. News that the NSA was working with major telecommunications companies first surfaced shortly before Christmas.

According to New York Times report, by working with backbone networks in the United States, the NSA was able to tap directly into switches and monitor any traffic moving across the networks. This included e-mail, instant messages and even phone calls, as most traditional phone communication is routed using voice over IP these days.

The documents were filed Wednesday by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in their ongoing case against the company. The EFF sued AT&T in January, accusing the company of breaking privacy laws through its cooperation. While the new documents were sealed, the New York Times obtained copies and details were published in Friday's edition.

According to the EFF's complaint, "AT&T has given the government unfettered access to its over 300 terabyte 'Daytona' database of caller information -- one of the largest databases in the world." The group also alleges that AT&T opened its network to "wholesale surveillance by the NSA" and therefore has violated the privacy rights of its users.

The Bush administration has acknowledged the existence of a domestic spying program, but claims the executive order was limited to those individuals with known terrorist ties.