An unexpected visitor gave my team the evidence we needed to prove that the government was secretly wiretapping Americans.
By: Cindy Cohn
On January 20, 2006, the front doorbell rang at the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s offices on Shotwell Street in the Mission District of San Francisco. At the time, Shotwell Street wasn’t the glamorous part of the Mission. Our offices sat between two auto repair shops, across the street from a utility substation. The sidewalk was often dotted with homeless people’s tents. At one point, San Francisco did a survey, and our block of Shotwell Street had the highest reported amount of human feces in the whole city.
We had many people down on their luck ring that doorbell. Some were just lost. Others sought us out because they believed, quite sincerely, that the government or aliens had put a chip or magnet in their brains. We tried to be sympathetic and point them to other resources, but generally we had to turn them away.
Because of this, it was with friendliness but some caution that our executive director, Shari Steele, answered the bell.
“Do you folks care about privacy?” the guy asked. He was in a tan trench coat, looked to be in his early 60s, with gray hair, intense eyes, and a raspy voice.
“Why yes, we do,” Shari answered.
“Then I have some information for you. I am a retired AT&T technician. I know how the NSA is tapping into the internet at an AT&T facility downtown.”
“Well, come on in.”
Shari found EFF attorney Kevin...
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