NSA Datamining with PRISM-- Watches Search History, Content of Emails, File Transfers and Live Chats

Chart from The Guardian article quoted and linked below

"Look. I know this looks bad, but you can trust me. I'm like your big brother. Right? I mean just look at this smile. Trustworthy."

Wow. This makes the executive branch's grabbing of phone records look pretty mild by comparison.

From The Guardian (h/t Jacobson at Legal Insurrection):

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. [Jacobson wonders if these companies might not be under a gag order similar to Verizon]

[...]  

The program facilitates extensive, in-depth surveillance on live communications and stored information. The law allows for the targeting of any customers of participating firms who live outside the US, or those Americans whose communications include people outside the US. 

It also opens the possibility of communications made entirely within the US being collected without warrants. 

Disclosure of the PRISM program follows a leak to the Guardian on Wednesday of a top-secret court order compelling telecoms provider Verizon to turn over the telephone records of millions of US customers. 

The participation of the internet companies in PRISM will add to the debate, ignited by the Verizon revelation, about the scale of surveillance by the intelligence services. Unlike the collection of those call records, this surveillance can include the content of communications and not just the metadata. 

Some of the world's largest internet brands are claimed to be part of the information-sharing program since its introduction in 2007. Microsoft – which is currently running an advertising campaign with the slogan "Your privacy is our priority" – was the first, with collection beginning in December 2007.

It was followed by Yahoo in 2008; Google, Facebook and PalTalk in 2009; YouTube in 2010; Skype and AOL in 2011; and finally Apple, which joined the program in 2012. The program is continuing to expand, with other providers due to come online.
Collectively, the companies cover the vast majority of online email, search, video and communications networks.

It's kind of amazing that when the press actually does a little investigation into Obama, scratching the thinnest of veneers really, they find all sorts of scandals and executive branch over reach. Weird that they didn't do this prior to the election, isn't it?

I'm shocked that someone like Obama who makes speeches about being ready to rule, indulging in revenge, and punishing enemies would run these sort of spying-- I mean data collection programs. But I guess he does have to learn the identity and location of his enemies after all...

I can't wait for the "It's Bush's fault" excuses to come rolling in.