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In reply to the discussion: BIG STORY from WaPo: Government secretly mining data from Internet corps. UPDATE: Companies deny. [View all]ProSense
(116,464 posts)8. Interesting:
Last edited Thu Jun 6, 2013, 07:41 PM - Edit history (1)
The highly classified program, code-named PRISM, has not been disclosed publicly before. Its establishment in 2007 and six years of exponential growth took place beneath the surface of a roiling debate over the boundaries of surveillance and privacy. Even late last year, when critics of the foreign intelligence statute argued for changes, the only members of Congress who knew about PRISM were bound by oaths of office to hold their tongues.
An internal presentation on the Silicon Valley operation, intended for senior analysts in the NSAs Signals Intelligence Directorate, described the new tool as the most prolific contributor to the Presidents Daily Brief, which cited PRISM data in 1,477 articles last year. According to the briefing slides, obtained by The Washington Post, NSA reporting increasingly relies on PRISM as its leading source of raw material, accounting for nearly 1 in 7 intelligence reports.
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Formally, in exchange for immunity from lawsuits, companies like Yahoo and AOL are obliged to accept a directive from the attorney general and the director of national intelligence to open their servers to the FBIs Data Intercept Technology Unit, which handles liaison to U.S. companies from the NSA. In 2008, Congress gave the Justice Department authority to for a secret order from the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court to compel a reluctant company to comply.
Apple demonstrated that resistance is possible, for reasons unknown, when it held out for more than five years after Microsoft became PRISMs first corporate partner in May 2007. Twitter, which has cultivated a reputation for aggressive defense of its users privacy, is still conspicuous by its absence from the list of private sector partners.
An internal presentation on the Silicon Valley operation, intended for senior analysts in the NSAs Signals Intelligence Directorate, described the new tool as the most prolific contributor to the Presidents Daily Brief, which cited PRISM data in 1,477 articles last year. According to the briefing slides, obtained by The Washington Post, NSA reporting increasingly relies on PRISM as its leading source of raw material, accounting for nearly 1 in 7 intelligence reports.
<...>
Formally, in exchange for immunity from lawsuits, companies like Yahoo and AOL are obliged to accept a directive from the attorney general and the director of national intelligence to open their servers to the FBIs Data Intercept Technology Unit, which handles liaison to U.S. companies from the NSA. In 2008, Congress gave the Justice Department authority to for a secret order from the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court to compel a reluctant company to comply.
Apple demonstrated that resistance is possible, for reasons unknown, when it held out for more than five years after Microsoft became PRISMs first corporate partner in May 2007. Twitter, which has cultivated a reputation for aggressive defense of its users privacy, is still conspicuous by its absence from the list of private sector partners.
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BIG STORY from WaPo: Government secretly mining data from Internet corps. UPDATE: Companies deny. [View all]
BlueCheese
Jun 2013
OP
Well, duh. MS, Yahoo, Google, FB, etc., are all mining your personal data...
Honeycombe8
Jun 2013
#24
Greenwald at the Guardian also broke this story today. Both the Guardian & Washingtong Post received
Luminous Animal
Jun 2013
#25
The first time any of us signed onto the internet we lost our privacy. nt
justiceischeap
Jun 2013
#30