Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

When the NSA Shows Up At Your Internet Company

Posted by samzenpus on from the when-the-man-comes-around dept.

Frosty Piss writes "When people say the feds are monitoring what people are doing online, what does that mean? How does that work? When, and where, does it start? Pete Ashdown, CEO of XMission, an internet service provider in Utah, knows. He received a Foreign Intelligence Service Act (FISA) warrant in 2010 mandating he let the feds monitor one of his customers, through his facility. He also received a broad gag order. Says Mr. Ashdown, 'I would love to tell you all the details, but I did get the gag order... These programs that violate the Bill of Rights can continue because people can't go out and say, This my experience, this is what happened to me, and I don't think it is right.' In this article, Mr. Ashdown tells us about the equipment the NSA installed on his network, and what he thinks it did."

9 of 309 comments (clear)

  1. Tiny Utah-based ISP makes a name for itself. by auric_dude · · Score: 5, Informative

    The company, a comparative midget with just 30,000 subscribers, cited the Fourth Amendment in rebuffing warrantless requests from local, state and federal authorities, showing it was possible to resist official pressure says it all http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/09/xmission-isp-customers-privacy-nsa

    1. Re: Tiny Utah-based ISP makes a name for itself. by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Informative

      Something to consider:

      I once worked for a company that used XMission's downtown SLC location as its colo location; excellent guys, and kick-ass service. That said, there's one other bit: a large number of their 30k customers are some rather large(-ish) corporations and companies - a few of whom have the ear of Sen. Orrin Hatch, among others in both state and federal government... not to mention (guessing this part, but given their location and name) they likely have a very strong hook into the LDS hierarchy.

      (By the by, XMission is one of the few (and IMO lucky) ISP's who provide for/with the UTOPIA fiber-to-home networks, and IIRC the only local/SLC-based one. )

      IOW, they're not just some tiny naive dial-up provider. If they didn't have a line to some heavy-hitters, I'd wager that they'd likely buckle to the demands out of sheer survival instinct, if for no other reason.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    2. Re: Tiny Utah-based ISP makes a name for itself. by Garridan · · Score: 5, Informative

      I once worked for a company that used XMission's downtown SLC location as its colo location; excellent guys, and kick-ass service.

      I second this. My boss was a good friend of Pete's, and our site was hosted there. I got to hang out with Pete quite a bit, and he's a superb example of a human being. Moral, upstanding, and fair. XMission isn't just a 'tiny ISP', it's a long-proven company with a history of smashing success; rather than expand to a national then multinational power, it has kept sight of its core, takes care of its people, and focuses on offering the best product for its customers. This is the ISP after which all others should be modeled. Pete Ashdown for president!

  2. NSA equipment: rent space? charge for electricity? by crow · · Score: 5, Informative

    You may be required to cooperate with their investigation, but space in a data center is not free, and the electricity certainly isn't, either. If they're taking what's yours, they should pay fair market value, and that includes space, power, cooling, and such.

  3. Harder done than said by bugnuts · · Score: 5, Informative

    National Security Letters, which are similar, result in a lot of difficulty challenging the gag order without violating the gag order.

    At the eff, they talk about national security letters. They have made some progress in challenging the gag orders, but this is years later. The recipient of this gag order would likely not have even been able to get it into court before they had already removed it 9 months later.

    The OP was served with a FISA warrant, which is apparently more rare and somewhat different. I don't know much about these, but the eff has some info here.

  4. Re:NSA equipment: rent space? charge for electrici by sirsnork · · Score: 4, Informative

    As is described in the article, they will happily pay that. However this particular ISP was against profiting in any way from monitoring their customer

    --

    Normal people worry me!
  5. Re:Legitimate order or not . . . ? by mosb1000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Does anyone know how this works?

    You do what they say, or else they come shoot you and plant drugs on your body.

  6. Re:Terminate contract instead? by AK+Marc · · Score: 4, Informative

    That would violate the order as well. I've not got the law committed to memory, but "tipping off" the subject is illegal, no matter how you tip them off. So a billing change would be illegal. Terminating the service on receipt of an order to tap wouldn't tip them off of tapping, but prevent it. That may get you an obstruction charge. Or not. I'm not a lawyer, just an expert in designing and implementing lawful intercept.

    --
    Learn to love Alaska
  7. They are the best by AndreyFilippov · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm Xmission customer for 18 years and they are the best. They always notified subscribers of any interruptions of the service even if it happened for 5 minutes in the middle of the night, decribing what went wrong and what have they done to prevent similar problems in the future.
    And I still drive with Pete Ashdown sticker on the back of my car since he ran for the US Senate - but it is not easy do win for a Democrat in one of the most Republican states.