AT&T's Daytona database is a DBMS capable of managing the large amounts of data involved in telecommunications systems, such as origin and destination of each call, time and length. According to AT&T, a single Daytona DBMS server can handle roughly 410 billion records in 40TB of disk space continuously.[1]

Privacy controversy

edit

In 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation lodged a class action lawsuit, Hepting v. AT&T, which alleged that AT&T had allowed agents of the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor phone and Internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants. If true, this would violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. AT&T has yet to confirm or deny that monitoring by the NSA is occurring. In April 2006 a retired former AT&T technician, Mark Klein, lodged an affidavit supporting this allegation [1]. The Department of Justice has stated they will intervene in this lawsuit by means of State Secrets Privilege [2].

In May 2006, USA Today reported that all international and domestic calling records had been handed over to the National Security Agency by AT&T, Verizon, SBC, and BellSouth for the purpose of creating a massive calling database.[3] The portions of the new AT&T that had been part of SBC Communications before November 18, 2005 were not mentioned.

On June 21, 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that AT&T had rewritten rules on their privacy policy. The policy, to take effect June 23, 2006, says that "AT&T — not customers — owns customers' confidential info and can use it 'to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process.' "[4]


See also

edit

References

edit

not yet used:

  1. ^ "Licensing Portfolio" (HTML). Retrieved 2007-07-22.