A former AT&T technician told Salon that wiretapping, sniffing equipment was installed at numerous AT&T facilities. The brains of the entire operation are at an AT&T Network Operations Center in Bridgeton, Mo., inside a well-protected, 20-by-40 foot room. The room is protected by a "mantrap" -- highly secure protection.

The Bridgeton facility is said to be able to collect data via any AT&T router in the U.S. via the sniffers.

And if a former AT&T technician is to be believed, they can sniff and capture virtually any piece of information, whether it be browsing information, VoIP, email or more.

"The network sniffer with the right software can capture anything," he told Salon. "You can get people's e-mail, VoIP phone calls — even passwords and credit card transactions — as long as you have the right software to decrypt that."

Is all this snooping needed for national security? We'll never know, because the NSA and AT&T still refused to divulge details.