Help wanted: enthusiastic, professional IT engineer willing to work long hours sifting and sorting through gazillions of terabytes of subscriber internet data. Qualified applicants shall receive a competitive salary (plus commission) based on experience and full benefits package including healthcare, 401k and [tentative] immunity from prosecution. Applicants should be inherently soulless and harbor no compunctions at all regarding the violation of subscribers' First & Fourth Amendment rights on a regular basis. (snark)
Back in October 2007, the Secrecy News website disclosed Comcast’s participation in a Defense Department program in which the Nation’s 2nd largest telecom giant was/is contracted to intercept "subscriber intelligence" (supposedly by FISA warrant) for a fee of $1,000 per request.
Business must be pretty good for Comcast lately because they’re expanding; now seeking to hire an engineer to supervise and coordinate "reconnaissance" and "analysis" of "subscriber intelligence" for the company’s National Security Operations.
Day-to-day tasks, according to one of the company’s job listings, will include "deploy[ing], installing] and remov[ing] strategic and tactical data intercept equipment on a nationwide scale to meet Comcast and Government lawful intercept needs." The person in this "intercept engineering "position will help collect and process traffic on the company’s" Comcast Digital Voice, High Speed Internet and Video service.
For a year now, all internet providers have been required to install gear for easy wiretapping under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). All applicants will need sufficient knowledge of CALEA standards. If hired, all prospective employees will not only perform snooping on Comcast customers but will also be charged with performing diagnosis on data, voice and video services to detect and respond to fraudulent activity such as file sharing, theft of service and speed enhancement.
From the AskCALEA website:
In October 1994, Congress took action to protect public safety and ensure national security by enacting the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA), Pub. L. No. 103-414, 108 Stat. 4279. The law further defines the existing statutory obligation of telecommunications carriers to assist law enforcement in executing electronic surveillance pursuant to court order or other lawful authorization. The objective of CALEA implementation is to preserve law enforcement's ability to conduct lawfully-authorized electronic surveillance while preserving public safety, the public's right to privacy, and the telecommunications industry's competitiveness.
May 3, 2006 Second Report, Memorandum Opinion, and Order -- The primary goal of the Order is to ensure that Law Enforcement Agencies have all of the resources that CALEA authorizes with regard to facilities-based broadband Internet access providers (ISP) and interconnected voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) providers.
Wired.com has more about the [real] job description:
The job requires a "B.S. Degree in Information Systems Technology, MIS or related field or equivalent years of progressive experience and self-study," a minimum of two years of policy or security engineering experience," as well as the "ability to carry and coordinate delivery of a 50-pound server to support deployments in local market."
If that's too much for you, don't worry. The company is also looking for an administrative assistant in its National Security Operations office. In that position, you'll be able to handle "sensitive incoming Legal subpoenas and other material. Some of this material may be 'Secret/Top Secret' and be classified under applicable Federal Law."
For the better part of a year now, rumors have bandied about, concerning Comcast keeping a bandwidth limit on its customers. Finally, in February, Comcast admitted that it had been "clamping down on subscribers' file-sharing as a way of keeping overall net traffic up."
Clamping down on file-sharing is one thing but what they’re doing now is something else altogether. It's wrong, gratuitous and against the law.
If you currently have Comcast I urge you to get rid of it. Hit 'em where it hurts -- their bottom line. Send Comcast and the rest of the telecom co-conspirators a stark message: NO MORE FREAKIN' SPYING!
And, another thing; if the U.S. Congress is going to continue to enable the Bush regime to flagrantly trash the Constitution, then why in the hell don't they just come out and tell us the truth, i.e., we. no. longer. have. one. I'm sick of the pretense. I'm sick of the lies. And, I'm sick and tired of being stuck in this god damn bizarro world dystopia.
I want my damn country back!!
Is it January 20th yet??
Wait, don't answer that!
Peace