AT&T is involved in data for money exchange with the CIA
Even though AT&T is now in partnership with Lookout Mobile in order to provide more security for your mobile device, it seems that the carrier thinks more about your malware security than protection of all kinds of espionage on your private life.
As it seems AT&T is even interested in profiting from the data that you may store on your device more than you would expect. A new report suggests that AT&T leaves the doors wide open when it comes to the U.S. government spying on you and may even negotiate deals in order to sale sensitive call data information connected to you to the C.I.A.
Government officials working for the CIA revealed in an interview for the New York Times that AT&T receives $10 million yearly in order to provide CIA with international call data, including data on calls made by Americans.
What makes the matters even worse is the fact that this is not a situation where the corporation was forced and required to provide the sensitive details but a voluntary contract between the two institutions.
Furthermore, the information provided is not supposed to be of any kind but is more targeted information. The whole way of operation is simple. The CIA gives AT&T a list of phone numbers of terrorist suspects and AT&T gets it searches through its database and returns data theoretically used to identify foreign associates accomplices.
When you take into account that there is an ongoing debate about carriers and tech companies helping in various investigations this adds a little more food for thought on that debate. The explanation at least on the surface sounds reasonable with the targeted data only being exchanged, although this is left to the CIA’s opinion to decide. Still, it may help the CIA catch suspects provided the agency does not overstep its rights.
Source: NYT
