AT&T have always been a branch of the government.
1. ALL the networks (IP, cellular and PSTN) provide feeds to DHS ... and thus the NSA. This isn’t actually an ATT-only thing.
2. Recall there used to be ONLY Ma Bell (ATT), which was split by Judge Green, and is now re-formulating/ coagulating. So this goes WAY back in US history. But again, ALL the networks do this. ALL of them.
3. The US networks have legal permission to analyze netflows, but *DO NOT* inspect the content of customer traffic. PERIOD. *IF* the network is contracted by the customer to do inspection, that’s OK. HOWEVER, the gummint takes raw feeds ...
FD: I work in the business.