Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

theintercept.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 192 posts

Re: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

#21

Post by kodablah »

dbcurtis wrote: post #8
kodablah wrote: post #6

One wonders if a CDN might advertise, "we promise once your data enters our network at our edge locations outside of the US, it does not traverse any AT&T networks while reaching your server inside the US". Same with cloud companies' private networks across regions.

Given how peering is implemented among backbone providers, I don't think that is technically possible today.

If peering had more participants, companies could choose their peering agreements for server-to-server data (i.e. non-residential, not-public-internet) on private pipes only with companies who make the similar no-AT&T promise downstream. One way or another, the principled economic squeeze needs to be there instead of waiting on public policy.

Re: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

#22

Post by pwinnski »

rsa4096 wrote: post #15
ggggtez wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This first thing you said isn't in the article at all, you just misread it. The second thing also indicates a lack of reading comprehension, thus downvoted.

Please, explain to me how I misread the map. It clearly labels Washington DC as a city in the state of Maryland.

You've misread the map by assuming "Maryland" was a state label, when evidence within the same map clearly indicates it is not. "Northern California" and "Southern California" are not states. Instead, they are areas, and Washington D.C. is in the area of Maryland.

Re: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

#23

Post by coldtea »

kodablah wrote: post #6

One wonders if a CDN might advertise, "we promise once your data enters our network at our edge locations outside of the US, it does not traverse any AT&T networks while reaching your server inside the US". Same with cloud companies' private networks across regions.

>One wonders if a CDN might advertise,

Yes, but they could also be lying about it.

Re: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

#24

Post by [deleted] »

swarnie_ wrote: post #7
azinman2 wrote: post #2

I’d love to see the intercept publish the equivalent for China, Russia, etc. It feels the press has very overindexed into the NSA.

America can't claim to be near the peak of human culture, freedom and civil liberties while also wanting to be compared against places like China and Russia. Hold yourself to higher standards if you really are No. 1.

[deleted]

Re: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

#25

Post by enos »

kodablah wrote: post #16
ancarda wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't the NSA start working with other ISPs than AT&T? I'd really like to see CDNs like CloudFlare start requiring Cloud Origin encryption; e.g. what CloudFlare calls "Full SSL" -- https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200170416-W... . Right now, you can do TLS termination ("Flexible SSL"), which end-users aren't aware of -- they see a padlock -- and I'm sure the NSA doesn't mind.

Sure they could, but one might hope the AT&T's eroded trust would serve as caution towards other overly cooperative companies. Or encourage companies to fight in court to be given the transparency allowances they desire to let the rest of us know they are legally compelled to do this and in no way do they agree or are doing anything beyond what's required. Granted, like FB issues and others, we in this community need…

AT&T's cooperation with NSA has been public since 2004. It doesn't seem to have much of an effect on them.

Re: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

#26

Post by hammock »

ancarda wrote: post #9
kodablah wrote: post #6

One wonders if a CDN might advertise, "we promise once your data enters our network at our edge locations outside of the US, it does not traverse any AT&T networks while reaching your server inside the US". Same with cloud companies' private networks across regions.

Couldn't the NSA start working with other ISPs than AT&T? I'd really like to see CDNs like CloudFlare start requiring Cloud Origin encryption; e.g. what CloudFlare calls "Full SSL" -- https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200170416-W... . Right now, you can do TLS termination ("Flexible SSL"), which end-users aren't aware of -- they see a padlock -- and I'm sure the NSA doesn't mind.

>Couldn't the NSA start working with other ISPs than AT&T?

They do. They work with all of them.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-joseph-nacchio-a...

AT&T just happens to have the oldest relationships and the largest infrastructure.

Re: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

#27

Post by reaperducer »

I'm struggling to find the new information here.

We've known for years through the New York Times and others that AT&T helps the NSA.

We've known for close to a hundred years about AT&T Long Lines networks and hubs for that network.

It's only basic logic to put the two together and know that the NSA uses AT&T's hubs.

What's new here?

Re: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

#28

Post by whatcanthisbee »

frockington wrote: post #19
azinman2 wrote: post #2

I’d love to see the intercept publish the equivalent for China, Russia, etc. It feels the press has very overindexed into the NSA.

If you tried in China or Russia you'd probably get a nice visit to a permanent-stay "resort" with "daily exercise" where you get to work in fields without pay

you're really optimistic...

why would PRC provide a stable "work" and "exercise" routine when it can simply use a death-van?

PRC is wiser to do a quick off-with-their-heads when it wants to shush someone

Re: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

#29

Post by jonknee »

azinman2 wrote: post #2

I’d love to see the intercept publish the equivalent for China, Russia, etc. It feels the press has very overindexed into the NSA.

The Intercept is "overindexed" to the US in the same way that the Daily Mail is "overindexed" to the UK. That's the whole point.

Re: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

#30

Post by pjc50 »

azinman2 wrote: post #2

I’d love to see the intercept publish the equivalent for China, Russia, etc. It feels the press has very overindexed into the NSA.

It's not a secret in the West, or even in China, that there's a "Great Firewall" which surveils and regulates all internet access.

It's just America that pretends it doesn't have a secret police.

Post reply on HN