The NSA, AT&T And The Secrets Of Room 641A

The latest revelations concerning Verizon, the NSA and phone tapping has the conspiracy world, as well as the mainstream, all worked-up over the invasion of privacy and disregard for our civil liberties.

As many of you know, this is nothing new. For many years now, the idea of such intrusions have become almost expected has it not? How often do we say to ourselves or in passing conversations with others "we know they are listening"?

But how many of you know about Room 641A?


[size=-3]Photo Courtesy of ZeroHedge

In San Francisco the "secret room" is Room 641A at 611 Folsom Street, the site of a large SBC phone building, three floors of which are occupied by AT&T. High-speed fiber-optic circuits come in on the 8th floor and run down to the 7th floor where they connect to routers for AT&T's WorldNet service, part of the latter's vital "Common Backbone." In order to snoop on these circuits, a special cabinet was installed and cabled to the "secret room" on the 6th floor to monitor the information going through the circuits. (The location code of the cabinet is 070177.04, which denotes the 7th floor, aisle 177 and bay 04.) The "secret room" itself is roughly 24-by-48 feet, containing perhaps a dozen cabinets including such equipment as Sun servers and two Juniper routers, plus an industrial-size air conditioner.

The sources I provide go on to tell of how these sorts of "spying programs" reach to other major cites and go to a lot of trouble to connect to major arteries of information....including our cellular communications and the internet.

Another "Cut-In and Test Procedure" document dated January 24, 2003, provides diagrams of how AT&T Core Network circuits were to be run through the "splitter" cabinet (PDF 7). One page lists the circuit IDs of key Peering Links which were "cut-in" in February 2003 (PDF 8), including ConXion, Verio, XO, Genuity, Qwest, PAIX, Allegiance, AboveNet, Global Crossing, C&W, UUNET, Level 3, Sprint, Telia, PSINet and Mae West. By the way, Mae West is one of two key internet nodal points in the United States (the other, Mae East, is in Vienna, Virginia). It's not just WorldNet customers who are being spied on -- it's the entire internet.

The recent issues with Verizon and the NSA are just another example in a long line of examples that show us what they are doing while our backs are turned. This should not surprise us at all considering the evidence we have of it occurring in the past.

Room 641a is just one room....out of many and we know this to be true. Please take the time to read the sources as it explains it much better than I could and I hope you find this just as intriguing as I did.

Source
Room 641a PDF
Source

I am so surprised that the Govt. is abusing the Patriot Act...

reply to post by jhn7537


That's pretty much the point. Are we really shocked that ATT, Verizon and such are just info gatherers for the NSA?

Originally posted by jhn7537
I am so surprised that the Govt. is abusing the Patriot Act...

I always disliked the term "abuse" for TPA (and other such legislation). In my opinion, they are being used exactly the way they were intended to be used (Meaning they were designed to wipe out civil liberties). It's like claiming someone is abusing a 500 horsepower car by breaking the speed limit.

Calling the way they're using it abuse is excusing it's very existence. That's to say it's very existence is what is really abusive.

reply to post by BrianFlanders


Exactly!

The NSA/government is doing exactly as intended......and we just look the other way.

The telecom's have been in bed with NSA since it's formation.

It's pretty much been common knowledge for quite a few years that the internet is monitored. Not sure why these revelations are a surprise to anyone.

James Bamford's 2008 book "The Shadow Factory" detailed it pretty well.

reply to post by bg_socalif


That's why I find this entire issue hilarious.

We've known for some time that they were doing this but most people just blew it off and said "they would never do that".

Morons.....

Oh right, like anybody could tap an ATT call. They never go long enough before dropping the connection to get any monitoring going.

reply to post by sheepslayer247

I have always found this fascinating and even more fascinating are those that scream about their privacy while ignoring this story.

Last year an article came out in the New York Times about how Target has developed programs that can track customer behaviors using credit cards, coupons and mailings. (They even created a “pregnancy prediction” score to help identify new mothers.)

I've tried to warn people that if a private company is doing these things, you better believe the government is on a much broader scale. People balk and say there is no way they could access that many systems. I think using something like Room 641A they could.

reply to post by sheepslayer247


Having been in the Telecom world for many years now, I have heard about this room and one in NY.

It is real.

First I'd like to say that I whole heartedly disagree with these "spy" programs. There's no doubt in my thinking that they're doing more than they say they are.

However, as long as they're "just" tracking phone numbers, there's really nothing we can do about it. I hope someone proves me wrong, but we don't own our phone numbers.

Until its revealed that they've been listening ( and I believe they have been ), we're at a disadvantage.

The only thing about this that would surprise me is that any ATS member would be shocked about this.

They pretty much can do what they want and it has been proven time and time again.

If its illegal now , they just simply create a new bill to make it legal add a nice name to the bill like the Patriot act NDAA and everyone will be offended if you question the bill. What you aren't a patriot , you don't care about our defence?

Unfortunately, they have successfully made the people care more about what Hollywood stars are doing , sports, or other activities of entertainment than the things that impact us the most.

I can't imagine anything that our gov't , MSM , and lobbyist couldn't get passed the general public and making them think its a good idea or the only option.

reply to post by sheepslayer247
Three words, Nova's Spy factory on PBS see if i can find it yep still,up www.pbs.org... what you say, will be droned on you soon. I did see Obama say "No they are listing" just like the IRS did not do what it did? usnews.nbcnews.com... form the link

Obama: 'Nobody is listening to your telephone calls'

yea right, and no one is seeing this post either.

I think many of you are seeing this in the same light as I am. Why are we getting all worked up over Verizon and the NSA now.....when it has been proven to have occured long before this?

Are people not paying attention, or does everyone have a short attention span?

reply to post by sheepslayer247
I just read what you posted but ill be darn if i can remember it.... This is what they er Them what you to do... forget what you just read or heard, so when it comes up your thinking it is all new and should be not worried , for it is just the man under the bed or in the closet that you knew was always there, but did not see till now.

Originally posted by sheepslayer247
I think many of you are seeing this in the same light as I am. Why are we getting all worked up over Verizon and the NSA now.....when it has been proven to have occured long before this?

Are people not paying attention, or does everyone have a short attention span?

I think some people just like to complain about these things without ever really retaining the information. (Or like a spazzed out little dog running from one topic to the next, yapping away. I have a friend that is like this)

Then there is a whole other segment of media out there right now that is pushing fear of government so hard, they've resorted to being misleading on stories. It's getting hard to know truth from doomtasitc disinfo.

And don't forget the 'under-estimators'. Those people just sit back and say there's no way the government can do anything with "that much information", "it's so much, it's worthless".

I think it's telling this thread hasn't seen more traffic.

reply to post by CheckPointCharlie

However, as long as they're "just" tracking phone numbers, there's really nothing we can do about it.

First tracking phone numbers is suppose to require a subpoena for probable cause. That is some blanket BS.

Second rm 641A is internet traffic, another aspect.

Originally posted by bg_socalif
The telecom's have been in bed with NSA since it's formation.

It's pretty much been common knowledge for quite a few years that the internet is monitored. Not sure why these revelations are a surprise to anyone.

Oh, I'm not surprised at all. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't the "paranoid" type. The first time I turned on an internet connected computer and started browsing, I knew there was no way they'd let something like that go without using it to spy on people. It's basically a direct channel into and out of someone's mind. The internet wasn't designed for anonymity and most people aren't smart enough to get close to true anonymity. The only people they can't spy on easily are the smartest geeks on the planet.

Anyhow. No. It's not a surprise. What has had me wondering for a while is why they're purposely spilling the beans. They didn't have to announce it on the news and probably 80% of people wouldn't have known or cared. Why are they bringing it out into the open unless they have even bigger plans.

I believe they are simply acclimating people to the Big Brother environment. They have no intentions of making it stop. They will feign astonishment and outrage like they always do and then they'll start in on the process of normalizing it. You'll see it on TV shows. Comedians will make stupid jokes about it. Movies will show you how it's really not so bad after all. Bad people will be exposed. Talking heads, politicians and celebrities who were initially "outraged" will slowly come around. Eventually, the once skeptical media will "see the light" and say "Maybe we overreacted. We didn't know everything".

So. Again. Why are they bringing it out into the open? Well, there could be any number of reasons but the most troubling possibility is this one - They intend to start using it to it's fullest potential for domestic purposes (not just terrorism) and they need the public to go along with it. As usual - Baby steps. Don't just look at today without thinking about the long term. They want you to focus on right now.

It's going to get worse. Mark my words.

There is lot of talk about backdoor to Google by the NSA.

Now I present the Backdoor to the NSA using Google.

Just type site:nsa.gov "pdf" in Google and see for yourself.

Here is a sample:

Key to Extraterrestrial Messages

Originally posted by cryptogee
There is lot of talk about backdoor to Google by the NSA.

Now I present the Backdoor to the NSA using Google.

Just type site:nsa.gov "pdf" in Google and see for yourself.

Here is a sample:

Key to Extraterrestrial Messages

Yeah nice google-fu

You did notice on the URL you posted that its in a folder called public_info? Those documents have already been released. No government agent worth his/her salt would leave classified documents on a web server, not saying it wont happen tho