Aussie Telco Telstra Agreed To Spy For America 125
An anonymous reader writes "Australian telecommunications giant Telstra has for a decade been storing huge volumes of electronic communications carried between Asia and America for surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies. This includes not just the metadata, but the actual content of emails, online messages and phone calls. With the blessing of the Australian government Telstra agreed to route data through a 'U.S. point of contact through a secure storage facility on U.S. soil that was staffed exclusively by U.S. citizens.' The contract was prompted by Telstra's decision to expand its business in Asia by taking control of hundreds of kilometers of undersea telecommunications cables. The deal started under the Liberal Party and continued under Labor. The Greens have demanded an explanation."
Re:This is why Subs can cut fiber cables (Score:5, Interesting)
"Egyptian naval forces have arrested three scuba divers who they say were trying to cut an undersea cable off the port of Alexandria that provides one-third of all internet capacity between Europe and Egypt.
However the navy who captured the men had no explanation of who they were working for, where they came from or why they would want to disrupt Egypt's internet communications."
I'm guessing they were planning on adding a bit of hardware in the line but messed up.
Re:smell the glove (Score:2, Interesting)
You say that as if "we" had any input on (or even knowledge of) what was going on. Logically, if "we" are completely oblivious as to what's happening, then "we" aren't the people making it happen.