Activists trying to embarrass the US government over its plans for eavesdropping
on electronic communications have used the Internet global communications
network to distribute a confidential manual produced by the National Security
Agency, the government’s chief eavesdropper.
The manual is a personnel handbook laying out regulations for NSA employees,
such as whether they can tell strangers that they work for the agency.
Hackers say the stunt was intended to highlight the inability to keep
secrets even at the NSA, which has played a key role in developing the controversial
Clipper Chip, which would give police access to confidential electronic
transmissions such as telephone calls and e-mail.
Judi Emmel, a spokeswoman for the security agency, shrugs off the break-in.
She says that though the NSA document was sent to dozens of newspapers
and media outlets, no secrets were leaked. ‘It’s not a classified document,’
she says.
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