An investigative report recently published by Wired revealed a secret surveillance program run by the US government in collaboration with telecommunications giant AT&T. Leaked police documents, a White House memo, and a letter from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden to the Department of Justice (DOJ) point to a secret program called Data Analytical Services (DAS), formerly known as Hemisphere.
Millions of Americans have been spied on for more than 10 years!
This disclosure shows that federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies have extensively surveilled millions of U.S. citizens under this undisclosed initiative for more than a decade.
Operated under the guise of targeting drug trafficking, the DAS program goes beyond tracking the call records of suspected criminals. This reportedly includes monitoring the communications of their families, friends, and individuals unrelated to any criminal activity.
AT&T, the largest U.S. telecommunications operator by number of subscribers, plays a key role in facilitating this surveillance. A White House memo reviewed by Wired shows that the program received over $6 million in funding from the President’s office to record calls made using AT&T’s infrastructure.
The report highlights examples where law enforcement requested DAS data for purposes unrelated to drug cases. The requests from local police departments, such as those in Daly City and Oakland, were for cold cases unrelated to drug trafficking. Moreover, leaked documents reveal that the DAS program was used to identify suspects and victims, even spying on close friends of people under investigation.
AT&T declined to directly respond to questions about its DAS program when reached for comment. The company argued that it was obligated to comply with legal requests from law enforcement. However, there is no existing law in US law that explicitly allows telecommunications carriers to retain comprehensive call data for long periods of time to assist law enforcement.
Funding for the DAS program has been suspended and restarted during different presidential administrations. Funding, which was first suspended during the President Obama term after the details of the Hemisphere program were disclosed by The New York Times in 2013, resumed during the President Trump term and was stopped again in 2021.
Wired’s report notes that funding for AT&T’s data mining program has resumed under President Joe Biden’s current administration, raising concerns about the privacy implications and legality of such extensive surveillance practices. What are you thinking? Please don’t forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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