Well, I think Snowden told us the tapping happens at the exchanges mainly. Was there a lot of cutting and splicing?

The cable landing stations are an easier location to tap the subsea stuff. If you tour one there are rooms they won't let you in.

> If you tour one there are rooms they won't let you in.

I mean, I'd kind of expect not to be allowed in everywhere in such a facility for many reasons. You can't go anywhere you want in all kinds of public infrastructure (water treatment plants, power plants, etc.).

The leaks about tapping international fiber cables predate Snowden by years. I remember NPR articles about that in 2008.

Do we? I'm under the impression they can install taps on fiber without disrupting service by bending the fiber just precisely right that a small amount of light bleeds out, or something like that.

There's an evanescent wave that can be detected if a short radius bend is introduced. I would imagine that this would introduce attenuation that might be detectable?

But mistakes happen.