New reporting by The Intercept and a partner newspaper in Denmark reveals that the National Security Agency, has extensive and previously unknown surveillance agreements with other nations that allow it unsurpassed access to global communication systems and the private information of the world’s citizens that travel through them.

Included is a Leaked NSA slide that details a program called RAMPART-A which has help create the spy agency’s global communications dragnet.

Based on documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the new reporting details a program called RAMPART-A which uses digital “congestion points” located across the world and allows the agency to “intercept the content of phone calls, faxes, e-mails, internet chats, data from virtual private networks, and calls made using Voice over IP software like Skype.”

In addition to its wide reach, what stands out about the program is its brute strength. AsIntercept journalist Ryan Gallagher explains, the computing power of the devices used for RAMPART-A “enables the NSA to tap into three terabits of data every second as the data flows across the compromised cables – the equivalent of being able to download about 5,400 uncompressed high-definition movies every minute.”

The documents show that there were at least 13 secret locations for the program around the world and Gallagher details how these locations overlap with what else is known about NSA partnerships.

Via http://www.blacklistednews.com

Original Story here