On Aug 27, 2007 23:29:01, Christopher Sawtell wrote:
> On 8/27/07, Don Gould <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
> > > On Mon 27 Aug 2007 22:31:13 NZST +1200, Don Gould wrote:
> > >
> > >> Agreed. I just wouldn't be using Xtra unless you're happy that your
> > >> email is open to the whole world.
> > >
> > > And the difference to any other ISP is? Email is unencrypted. Big
> > > Brother America is reading every bit of it.
> >
> > How do you figure that?
> >
> > If I email someone else on Orcon, are you saying that Orcon share my
> > email traffic with the US?
>
> AFAIK Orcon is effectivly just a retailer for Telecom and I'm quite
> certain that if the NSA wanted some particular traffic on 'our'
> Telecom network monitored and forwarded to them it would just happen.
> Sovereignty be damned.
It's certainly possible for Telecom to look at ADSL traffic from an
Orcon customer, but it's not as easy as you might assume.
When Orcon wholesale ADSL for Telecom, all Telecom usually provide is
layer 2 connectivity. This connection (usually ATM in NZ IIRC) gets the
traffic to Orcon, and they have to provide all layer 3 connectivity
themselves. There is an option whereby ISPs can get Telecom to provide
full layer 3 service excluding authentication, but I'm not sure that any
ISPs in NZ have actually chosen that option.
This means that if Telecom wanted to tap the connection, they would
pretty much need to install hardware specifically for that purpose in
the ATM link between the retail ISP and them, as ATM routers generally
won't decode ATM cells into IP packets and monitor their contents for
you.
That's not to say they aren't watching, just that it would involve more
work on their part than you might expect. I personally don't think they
are, but it doesn't really bother me much as I don't transit anything
sensitive without encryption.
Jasper
