The internet is aflame with the news that the National Security Agency may be spying on phone calls and internet access of American citizens, and the possibility that they've partnered with some of the biggest tech companies in the world—Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Skype, and others—to request and access data directly whenever they want it. Let's take a look at what exactly is going on, how long it's been happening, and what—if anything—you can do about it.
Defenders of online liberty and generally angry internet people Anonymous have leaked a treasure trove of NSA documents, including seriously important stuff like the US Department of Defense’s ‘Strategic Vision’ for controlling the internet.
The documents — 13 in total — were posted online, along with an accompanying message
full of the normal Anonymous bluster: people won’t be silenced, they
have the memory of trivia-master elephants, the governments of the world
will fall, your average press release really.
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The
documents seem to mostly relate to PRISM and supporting operations, and
mostly date from around
2008, supposedly not long after PRISM first
reared its ugly head. One of the key things Anonymous has highlighted
from the documents is the existence of an “intelligence-sharing network”
that shares data gleaned from PRISM with “intelligence partners” around
the world. Although we’re still in the process of combing through the
documents, you can bet your last Bitcoin that ‘intelligence’ has been
shared with British security services.
James
Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, basically confirmed the
Washington Post and Guardian report about how the NSA can pry data from
Apple, Facebook, Google and whoever else.
Here's what Clapper wrote about PRISM:
The Guardian and The Washington Post articles refer to collection of communications pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They contain numerous inaccuracies.
Section 702 is a provision of FISA that is designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-U.S. persons located outside the United States. It cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person, or anyone located within the United States.
Activities authorized by Section 702 are subject to oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the Executive Branch, and Congress. They involve extensive procedures, specifically approved by the court, to ensure that only non-U.S. persons outside the U.S. are targeted, and that minimize the acquisition, retention and dissemination of incidentally acquired information about U.S. persons.
Section 702 was recently reauthorized by Congress after extensive hearings and debate.
Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats.
The unauthorized disclosure of information about this important and entirely legal program is reprehensible and risks important protections for the security of Americans.
Okay.
Translation: hey, we're doing this because it's all totally legal! And
that there are a lot of procedures to get stuff like this done so don't
worry! And it's all a secret! And that revealing that we've had access
to data from bigwig Internet companies is an awful thing to do!
Basically, trust us to keep you safe even if it means we're completely
untrustworthy. Ha.
[Big Thank to Gizmodo]
