Operational relevance: Slight. I realize that large Telcos/ISP's are legally obligated to non-disclosure of LEA intercation(s) w.r.t placing equipment in their infrstructure. Que sera, sera. But wait: Yes, Boys and Girls! He knows if you've been naughy or nice. Just in time for Christmas, Eric Lichtblau and James Risen write in The New York Times late last night that King George didn't exactly come clean with the details of his 'authorization' of illicit eavesdropping: [snip] The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity, according to current and former government officials. The volume of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks, without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged, the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries, they said. [snip] Happy Holidays -- party like it's 1984. More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/24/politics/24spy.html But, of course, you already knew that, right? Cheers, - ferg ps. As an aside, this is in no way surprising -- as a former OMSEC guy, I figure they've been doing this, in one way or another, forever. :-) -- "Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson Engineering Architecture for the Internet fergdawg@netzero.net or fergdawg@sbcglobal.net ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/