Information revealed in leaked police documents, White House memos and a letter from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden to the Justice Department all confirm that millions of Americans are being spied on. Investigations reveal that federal, state and local law enforcement have been involved in spying on millions of U.S. citizens for more than a decade.
The program, known as Data Analysis Services (DAS), tracks the criminals' call records, as well as those of their friends, family friends and others who aren't even on suspect lists. The program, formerly known as Hemisphere, captures call data with the help of AT&T, which happens to be one of the largest carriers in the United States.
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A White House memo reviewed by Wired also mentioned that the president's office provided more than $6 million in assistance for the program so that calls made using AT&T's infrastructure can be recorded smoothly. Carrier spokesperson Kim Hart declined to comment on DAS, referring to how the company will comply with legal requirements.
"While DAS is administered under a program specifically focused on drug trafficking, a leaked document from the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC) shows that local police agencies in places like Daly City and Oakland requested data from DAS for use in pending cases that did not appear to be related to drugs."
"The report also mentions instances where police requested DAS data solely to identify suspects and victims by spying on the victims' close friends. The documents also show that the scope of the DAS program was far greater than what inspectors at the U.S. Postal Service and parole officers at the New York Department of Corrections were trained to do."
This isn't the first time we've heard about the DAS program, though. Back in 2013, former President Obama stopped funding the program. However, after Donald Trump was sworn in, funding for the program was restored and restarted in 2021. Unfortunately, under the current government, funding for this program has been restarted.
Wired has written a complete and comprehensive report on how the DAS program works and AT&T's participation in the program. Here is the original report:
https://www.wired.com/story/hemisphere-das-white-house-surveillance-trillions-us-call-records/
After reading the report itself and related content, I found that I was not as surprised as I thought. This reminds me of what Sean Parker said in "The Social Network": "Private behavior is a relic of a bygone era."