Mark Klein, the 79-year-old former AT&T technician and whistleblower, passed away, renowned for unveiling mass government surveillance. In 2006, he exposed the NSA's clandestine operations at an AT&T hub in San Francisco, where a secret room—Room 641A—facilitated the interception of Americans' internet traffic. His revelations underscored how the U.S. government, leveraging post-9/11 powers, was accessing vast quantities of data. Klein's disclosures paved the way for greater awareness of surveillance practices, foreshadowed by later revelations from Edward Snowden. The Electronic Frontier Foundation confirmed his death, having supported Klein's legal efforts against the government following his disclosures.
Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician turned whistleblower who exposed mass surveillance by the U.S. government, has died at age 79.
Behind the door of the now-infamous Room 641A, optical splitting wiretaps were creating an identical copy of raw internet traffic and funneling it back to the NSA.
Klein's disclosure was confirmation that the U.S. government was accessing the internet data on millions of Americans using powers granted by Congress in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Klein's death was confirmed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the San Francisco-based digital rights group who Klein turned to, and which went on to sue the federal government following Klein's disclosures.
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