AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) worked in close “partnership” with the National Security Agency for decades to give the spy agency information about billions of emails, according to media reports.

The reports, in the New York Times and ProPublica, used NSA documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

According to the reports, AT&T, whose AT&T Mobility unit is based in Atlanta, gave the NSA access to information about emails contained within its networks and permitted the NSA to monitor communications at the United Nations in New York.

Although previous reports indicated that large telecom companies and other tech firms were used by the NSA to collect data from emails, this report shows that AT&T’s role with the NSA was more extensive and closer than other companies.

AT&T is not actually named in the NSA documents, but was referred to by code names that the Times and ProPublica concluded referred to the Dallas-based telecom giant. According to the report, AT&T installed surveillance equipment in at least 17 of its Internet hubs on American soil.

That was far more than Verizon, the report said.

ProPublica said the documents date from the 2003 to 2013 time frame.

Staff
Memphis Business Journal Online