The "oh well, it happens, who cares, guess you need PGP" comments on this thread are idiotic. Some of you would benefit from reading the text of the 4th Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized" The Washington Post mentioned some "safeguards"... but those were pathetic. Why? They seemed to be similar to the following analogy: "we'll keep that video camera in your home, recording your every move, and we promise we'll close our eyes when reviewing the tape whenever it shows you naked". THAT is essentially what they're saying. The access described by both the Washington Post and The Guardian is essentially unfettered/unmetered/unmonitored. Just as a doctors take the "hippocratic oath" to maintain decent standards which are to the benefit of modern civilization... shouldn't IT/Networking/Internet professionals (NANOG readers!!!) have standards that, hopefully, distinguishes us from... say... the State-run ISP of North Korea. And if these allegations are true... then... I have a difficult time believing that there was no "quid pro quo" involved. Especially since such companies risk a backlash and huge loss of customers if/when this gets out. So I don't think they'd do this without some kind of return in favor. Did they get special tax treatment? Tarp money of any kind (maybe to a parent company)? Easing of regulation enforcement? If there was "quid pro quo", then what a bunch of F'ing whores, selling their own customers down the river... to make a buck... and potentially contributing to a future tyranny. Sure, the US government probably only use this to catch the bad guys today... but what would a *corrupt* adminstration do with such data in the future... stick the IRS on their political enemies? (oh, wait, that just happened... hmmmm) -- Rob McEwen http://dnsbl.invaluement.com/ rob@invaluement.com +1 (478) 475-932