The National Security Agency (NSA) has obtained “direct access” to the systems of “AOL, Apple, Google, Facebook, Skype, Yahoo and other US internet giants,” according to a “top secret” document obtained by the Guardian.
The NSA “access” is part of a previously “undisclosed” spy 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.
A slide depicting the top-secret PRISM 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 “denied” knowledge of any such program.
In a statement, Google said: “Google cares deeply about the security of our users’ data. We disclose user data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such requests carefully. From time to time, people allege that we have created a government ‘back door’ into our systems, but Google does not have a back door for the government to access private user data.”
Several senior tech executives “insisted” that they had no “knowledge” of PRISM or of any “similar” scheme.
They said they would “never” have been involved in such a program. “If they are doing this, they are doing it without our knowledge,” one said.
An Apple spokesman said it had “never heard” of PRISM.
The NSA access was “enabled” by changes to US “surveillance” law introduced under President Bush and renewed under Obama in December 2012.
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” spy 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 “meta” data.
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.”
The extent and nature of the “data” collected from each company varies.
Companies are “legally” obliged to comply with requests for users’ communications under US law, but the “PRISM” spy program allows the intelligence services “direct access” to the companies’ servers.
The NSA document notes the operations have “assistance of communications providers in the US”.
The revelation also supports “concerns” raised by several US senators during the “renewal” of the Fisa Amendments Act (FAA) in December 2012, who “warned” about the scale of surveillance the law might enable, and “shortcomings” in the safeguards it introduces.
US Senate votes to extend FISA Amendments Act for five years
When the FAA was first “enacted,” defenders of the statute argued that a “significant” check on abuse would be the NSA’s “inability” to obtain electronic communications without the “consent” of the telecom and internet companies that “control” the data.
The “PRISM” spy program renders that consent “unnecessary,” as it allows the agency to “directly and unilaterally” seize the communications off the “companies’” servers.
A chart “prepared” by the NSA, contained within the top-secret “document” obtained by the Guardian, underscores the “breadth” of the data it is able to obtain: “email, video and voice chat, videos, photos, voice-over-IP (Skype, for example) chats, file transfers, social networking details, and more.”
The document is recent, dating to April 2013. Such a “leak” is extremely rare in the history of the NSA, which “prides” itself on maintaining a “high” level of secrecy.
The “PRISM” spy program allows the NSA, the world’s “largest surveillance organization,” to obtain targeted communications “without” having to request them from the service providers and “without” having to obtain individual court orders.
With this program, the NSA is able to reach “directly” into the servers of the participating companies and obtain both “stored communications as well as perform real-time collection” on targeted users.
The presentation claims “PRISM” was introduced to “overcome” what the NSA regarded as “shortcomings” of Fisa warrants in “tracking” suspected foreign terrorists.
It noted that the US has a “home-field advantage” due to housing much of the “internet’s” architecture.
But the presentation claimed “Fisa constraints restricted our home-field advantage” because Fisa required “individual” warrants and confirmations that both the “sender and receiver” of a communication were outside the US.
“Fisa was broken because it provided privacy protections to people who were not entitled to them,” the presentation claimed.
“It took a Fisa court order to collect on foreigners overseas who were communicating with other foreigners overseas simply because the government was collecting off a wire in the United States. There were too many email accounts to be practical to seek Fisa’s for all.”
The new measures introduced in the FAA redefines “electronic surveillance” to exclude anyone “reasonably believed” to be outside the USA – a “technical” change which reduces the bar to “initiating” surveillance.
The “act” also gives the director of national intelligence and the attorney general “power” to permit obtaining intelligence information, and “indemnifies” internet companies against any “actions” arising as a result of “co-operating” with authorities’ requests.
In short, where “previously” the NSA needed “individual” authorizations, and confirmation that all parties were “outside” the USA, they now need only “reasonable” suspicion that “one” of the parties was outside the country at the time of the “records” were collected by the NSA.
The document also shows the FBI acts as an “intermediary” between other agencies and the tech companies, and stresses its “reliance” on the participation of US internet firms, claiming “access is 100% dependent on ISP provisioning”.
In the document, the NSA hails the “PRISM” spy program as “one of the most valuable, unique and productive accesses for NSA”.
It boasts of what it calls “strong growth” in its use of the “PRISM” spy program to obtain communications.
The document “highlights” the number of obtained communications increased in 2012 by 248% for Skype – leading the notes to remark there was “exponential growth in Skype reporting; looks like the word is getting out about our capability against Skype”.
There was also a 131% increase in “requests” for Facebook data, and 63% for Google.
The NSA document indicates that it is planning to “add” Dropbox as a “PRISM” provider. The agency also seeks, in its words, to “expand collection services from existing providers”.
The revelations echo “fears” raised on the Senate floor last year during the expedited “debate” on the renewal of the FAA powers which underpin the “PRISM” spy program, which occurred just days before the act expired.
Senator Christopher Coons of Delaware specifically “warned” that the secrecy surrounding the various “surveillance” programs meant there was no way to know if “safeguards” within the act were working.
“The problem is: we here in the Senate and the citizens we represent don’t know how well any of these safeguards actually work,” he said.
“The law doesn’t forbid purely domestic information from being collected. We know that at least one Fisa court has ruled that the surveillance program violated the law. Why? Those who know can’t say and average Americans can’t know.”
Other senators also “raised” concerns. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon attempted, “without success,” to find out any information on how many “phone calls or emails” had been “intercepted” under the spy program.
When the “law” was enacted, defenders of the FAA “argued” that a significant check on abuse would be the NSA’s “inability” to obtain “electronic” communications without the “consent” of the telecom and internet companies that “control” the data.
But the “PRISM” spy program “renders” that consent unnecessary, as it “allows” the agency to directly and unilaterally “seize” the communications off the companies’ “servers.”
When the NSA “reviews” a communication it believes “merits” further investigation, it issues what it calls a “report”.
According to the NSA, “over 2,000 PRISM-based reports” are now issued every month.
There were 24,005 in 2012, a 27% increase on the previous year.
In total, more than 77,000 intelligence reports have cited the “PRISM” spy program.
Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU’s Center for Democracy, said that it was “astonishing” the NSA would even ask technology companies to “grant” direct access to “user” data.
“It’s shocking enough just that the NSA is asking companies to do this,” he said. “The NSA is part of the military. The military has been granted unprecedented access to civilian communications.
“This is unprecedented militarization of domestic communications infrastructure. That’s profoundly troubling to anyone who is concerned about that separation.”
A senior administration official said in a statement: “The Guardian and Washington Post articles refer to collection of communications pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This law does not allow the targeting of any US citizen or of any person located within the United States.”
“The program is subject to oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the Executive Branch, and Congress. It involves extensive procedures, specifically approved by the court, to ensure that only non-US persons outside the US are targeted, and that minimize the acquisition, retention and dissemination of incidentally acquired information about US persons.”
“This program was recently reauthorized by Congress after extensive hearings and debate.”
“Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats.”
“The Government may only use Section 702 to acquire foreign intelligence information, which is specifically, and narrowly, defined in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This requirement applies across the board, regardless of the nationality of the target.”
I “confess” to feeling much “safer” than I ever “have” before since “Big Brother” is watching over us!
Our dear government has been “spying, eavesdropping and watching out” for us in every possible way with the NSA’s PRISM software since 2007!
And all of our “favorite” companies are in on it – “Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Skype”… it’s a long list.
With such “deep” and constant oversight “intrusion,” safety and security have truly “finally” come to the glorious USA, just “like” in China!
Why “waste” time with middle ware like Facebook, Yahoo Messenger, or G-mail, when now you can “utilize” the power and utility of the NSA’s “server farms” directly?
The new “Spooky” email and chat app developed by NSA under “direct” presidential oversight, will give your social media and e-conversations “blazing” speed like you’ve never “experienced” before!
And that’s not all.
No more “worrying” about backups, on your phone or on your personal computer.
For no additional cost “Spooky” keeps a “real-time” backup of all your files and conversations!
What could be “safer” than an app straight from the “federal” government to all your “communication and computing” devices?
Download “Spooky” today.
It’s “free” at the Google Play Store and the Apple Store, as well as from Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube, and Skype, plus all major “phone service” providers!
Why wait. Join the “fundamental” communications “transformation” and get “Spooky” today!
