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Wired News published papers yesterday that allegedly show AT&T's role in a National Security Agency effort to spy on Internet traffic.

The internal company documents and other materials were assembled by Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician. Klein also gave internal AT&T documents earlier this year to privacy advocate Electronic Frontier Foundation, which sued the telecommunications giant challenging the Bush administration's secretive domestic surveillance program.

The papers provide a detailed account of how AT&T used "splitters" to tap into gigantic fiber-optic lines that carry Internet traffic. Klein writes that AT&T installed the splitters, which diverted light signals carrying data, into a "secret room" where the information could be analyzed.

Wired News Editor in Chief Evan Hansen says Wired decided to publish the documents after consulting with security experts who said the information couldn't be used to harm AT&T.