So Just Exactly What Is NSA’s Prism, More Than Reprehensibly Evil? The US NSA’s PRISM program appears to be a set of specialized deep-packet inspection filters combined with pre-existing wiretapping points at high-level Internet carriers in the United States. Since the program’s revelation the day before yesterday, speculations have ranged far and wide about who does what to make this surveillance state nightmare possible. Adding it all together, it would appear that the social tech companies did not, repeat not, supply bulk data about their users at the US Government’s will – but that the situation for you as an end user remains just as if they had. The day before yesterday, news broke – no, detonated – that the NSA named nine social communications companies as “providers” for spy data. Among them were Microsoft, Hotmail, Skype, Apple, and Facebook – no surprises there, activists in repressive countries say “Use once, die once” about Skype – but also companies like Google and Gmail. This raised a lot of eyebrows, not to say fury. So in conclusion,
NSA Phone-Record Tracking Troubles Privacy Scholars Of the two big U.S. government surveillance projects that came to light this week, the one that might seem less startling—the fact that the National Security Agency gathers Verizon’s U.S. call records—troubled privacy activists more than the report that the NSA can get user data such as e-mails and photographs held by Internet companies including Google and Facebook. That’s because details of the phone surveillance, and the confirmation of its scope by the U.S. director of national intelligence, suggest that the NSA has broadened its interpretation of the 2001 Patriot Act in ways that allow for the mass collection of information about U.S. citizens. The mandate of the NSA is to capture intelligence about foreigners. But the vast communications dragnet it operates inevitably scoops up information about Americans as well. In 2005, revelations emerged that the NSA was collecting phone records of U.S. citizens.
NSA's Prism surveillance program: how it works and what it can do Since Prism was first revealed by the Guardian and the Washington Post, there has been much discussion across the media around exactly what the NSA's top-secret program is, how it works, and what it covers. While many of these have provided useful insight and detail into the operation of the program, several of the reports do not tally with the information obtained by the Guardian. Some articles have claimed that Prism is not a tool used for the collection of information from US companies, but is instead an internal tool used to analyse such information. Others have speculated – in the light of denials from technology companies about granting "direct access" to servers – that Prism operates through interception of communication cables. Both of these theories appear to be contradicted by internal NSA documents. In the interests of aiding the debate over how Prism works, the Guardian is publishing an additional slide from the 41-slide presentation which details Prism and its operation.
Tech Giants Built Segregated Systems For NSA Instead Of Firehoses To Protect Innocent Users From PRISM - TechCrunch The NSA may have wanted full firehoses of data from Google, Facebook and other tech giants, but the companies attempted to protect innocent users from monitoring via compliance systems that created segregated data before securely handing it over as required by law, according to individuals familiar with the systems used by the tech companies targeted by PRISM. The widely criticized corroboration with the NSA therefore may have benefited citizens rather than being to their detriment. How PRISM Requests And Receives Private Data My sources confirm that the NSA did not have direct access or any special instant access to data or servers at the PRISM targets, but instead had to send requests to the companies for the data. These requests must be complied with by law, but only if the government narrowly defines what it’s looking for. By cooperating, companies can better ensure that each request is valid, and narrow enough in its scope. PRISM’s Scope May Be Smaller Than Feared
We Asked For This - TechCrunch There is a certain jollity in the reactions of the webby class to news that the NSA has been, first, spying on Verizon communications for years, and second has approached multiple information-gathering startups, hat in hand, asking for access to their data stores. It is indeed funny: faceless bureaucrats who, we are certain, can barely click the Start menu, are horking down data from America’s Can You Hear Me Now Network while browsing our Facebook profiles over lunch. Now that the truth has come to light, we’re positively giddy. I had heard the refrain for years from the conspiracy-minded: “Google/Facebook/Twitter/Apple will sell you out in a second.” Maybe we should have listened. We asked for this. I’m as guilty as you (unless you’re Cory Doctorow.) In short, we didn’t trade privacy for security. This era of absolute trust is fading, at least in certain circles. A bad sysadmin can get away with typing “chmod a+rwx .” for years. And so we’ll ask for it again and again.
Google: There Is No PRISM Back Door To Our Servers, No Open-Ended Access To User Data - TechCrunch All of the companies that are allegedly involved in the PRISM surveillance program have now issued short statements saying that they are not participating in this program and that they are not allowing the government “direct access” to their servers. Among these, of course, is Google. The company, however, also just issued a longer statement penned by its CEO Larry Page and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond. In it, Page and Drummond argue, just like in the company’s shorter statement, that Google does not give the U.S. government “direct access or a ‘back door’ to the information stored in our data centers.” Indeed, just like Apple, Google claims that it “had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday.” Google also argues that it had never heard of a broad type of order like the one Verizon apparently received and which led to the release of millions of call records.
NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program NSA has direct access to tech giants' systems for user data, secret files reveal The National Security Agency has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian. The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called Prism, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says. The Guardian has verified the authenticity of the document, a 41-slide PowerPoint presentation – classified as top secret with no distribution to foreign allies – which was apparently used to train intelligence operatives on the capabilities of the program. The document claims "collection directly from the servers" of major US service providers. Although the presentation claims the program is run with the assistance of the companies, all those who responded to a Guardian request for comment on Thursday denied knowledge of any such program. An Apple spokesman said it had "never heard" of Prism.
EEUU 'espía' a través de los servidores de Apple, Google o Facebook | Estados Unidos El Gobierno de Barack Obama no sólo tiene información sensible de millones de llamadas telefónicas, también tiene acceso directo a los datos y a los servidores de todopoderosas empresas de Internet como Google, Facebook o Apple. Una presentación en Powepoint de la Agencia de Seguridad Nacional (NSA) a la que ha tenido acceso los diarios 'The Guardian' y 'The Washington Post' probaría el control de EEUU sobre el contenido de determinados e-mails, fotografías, vídeos conversaciones de chat o transferencia de archivos. El director de la NSA, James Clapper ha afirmado que este tipo de informaciones amenazan la seguridad nacional. Aunque el documento -clasificado como 'top secret- especifica que las operaciones de control de los servidores cuentan con la aprobación y colaboración de las empresas 'espiadas', el periódico inglés subraya que las compañías con las que ha contactado desconocen por completo estas tareas de la NSA a través de un programa bautizado como PRISM.
Huffington Post Since the revelations last week that the U.S. culls the phone records of millions of Americans every day and accesses the network of tech giants like Apple, Facebook and Google to trace citizens, questions have been popping up about whether Canadians are subject to similar surveillance. So far, experts could only say that Canada has the legal loopholes and the capability to do so if it wishes. But documents obtained by the Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press suggest that Canada is, indeed, engaged in mass warrantless surveillance. According to the Globe, Defence Minister Peter MacKay signed a ministerial directive in November, 2011, authorizing the re-start of “a secret electronic eavesdropping program that scours global telephone records and Internet data trails – including those of Canadians – for patterns of suspicious activity.” The program evidently had been launched in 2005 by then-Defence Minister Bill Graham, in the Liberal government of Paul Martin. Loading Slideshow
Booz Allen's Role in N.S.A. Case Puts Spotlight on Carlyle For years, the Carlyle Group has tried to shed its former reputation as a second home for government officials and a specialist in buying defense companies. But the recent fracas over the National Security Agency‘s surveillance programs highlights the private equity giant’s remaining ties to government work: its majority stake in Booz Allen Hamilton, the employer of the whistle-blower, Edward J. Snowden. Shares of Booz Allen were down about 4 percent in midmorning trading on Monday, at $17.24. Still, the controversy over Mr. The buyout firm bought Booz Allen’s government contracting arm for $2.5 billion in 2008, when the consultancy separated the business from its commercial arm. Carlyle held a roughly 67 percent stake in Booz Allen as of March 31, and still holds three seats on the firm’s board. The consultancy has posted fairly steady growth over recent years, including $219 million in net income on $5.8 billion in revenue for the year ended March 31. As The New York Times noted:
NSA leak fallout: LIVE UPDATES Published time: June 10, 2013 15:49 Edited time: September 13, 2013 00:18 The logo of the National Security Agency (NSA) (AFP Photo) Former CIA employee Edward Snowden has carried out one of the biggest leaks in US history, exposing a top-secret NSA surveillance program to the media. Leading tech companies were revealed to be involved in intelligence gathering through PRISM spy tool. RT has developed an interactive map showing the countries being spied on, those aiding the US in their surveillance operations. Thursday, September 12 GMT 23:58: Edward Snowden’s leaks revealing mass data collection by the National Security Agency “probably needed to happen,” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Thursday. Wednesday, September 11 GMT 23:52: Matthew Green, a cryptography professor at Johns Hopkins University, was asked to remove a blog post he wrote regarding the latest leak, which revealed that the NSA is capable to subverting internet encryption. Tuesday, September 10
Prism: MEPs hit out at US surveillance of people's personal data MEPs criticised a secret American programme to gather user data and questioned the implications for privacy, data protection and EU-US security collaboration. Parliament held a debate on the Prism programme on Tuesday morning after the Guardian and the Washington Post revealed its existence over the weekend. Most speakers roundly condemned the programme and the US's assurances that only non-Americans were targeted, but insisted on the value for Europe of security cooperation with the US. The Commission Speaking on behalf of the Commission, Tonio Borg, the commissioner for health and consumer policy, said: "Programmes such as the so-called Prism and the laws on the basis of which such programmes are authorised potentially endanger the fundamental right to privacy and to data protection of EU citizens." The Commission will raise the issue at the EU-US ministerial in Dublin on Friday, Mr Borg added, pointing out that in a democracy, law enforcement bodies should follow the rules.