First Amendment Operation Prisim..apping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies,

The next layer of the onion....
The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time.



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Codename PRISM: Secret government program mines data from 9 U.S. Internet companies, including photographs, email and more | masslive.com

By The Washington Post
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on June 06, 2013 at 6:15 PM, updated June 06, 2013 at 6:27 PM
By Barton Gellman and Laura Poitras
The Washington Post
The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time.
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 know 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 NSA’s Signals Intelligence Directorate, described the new tool as the most prolific contributor to the President’s 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.
That is a remarkable figure in an agency that measures annual intake in the trillions of communications. It is all the more striking because the NSA, whose lawful mission is foreign intelligence, is reaching deep inside the machinery of American companies that host hundreds of millions of American-held accounts on American soil.
The technology companies, which participate knowingly in PRISM operations, include most of the dominant global players of Silicon Valley. They are listed on a roster that bears their logos in order of entry into the program: “Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.” PalTalk, although much smaller, has hosted significant traffic during the Arab Spring and in the ongoing Syrian civil war.
Dropbox , the cloud storage and synchronization service, is described as “coming soon.”
Government officials declined to comment for this story.

 

MonkeyNet for the win!

 

It's all hitting the news now, but the capability has always been there. That's what I have found most frustrating over the years, when a conversation concerning communications privacy and NSA capabilities has arisen - they have ALWAYS been able to tap into whatever they wanted to tap into. Their only restraint has been a self-imposed set of guidelines designed to keep them on the right side of the law. I emphasize SELF-IMPOSED.

The restrictions contained within the United States Signals Intelligence Directives (USSID) system (primary among them is USSID 9 and USSID 18) have always been the primary limiting factor in NSA activities; and, to the organization's credit, those restrictions (at least to my knowledge during my affiliation with the organization) were scrupulously adhered to.

The NSA has no charter, as does the CIA. The NSA was founded on a Presidential Order, and has always functioned within the Department of Defense. It has always enjoyed a near unique level of latitude in the accomplishment of its mission.

If you want communications privacy, write a letter. Electronic Communications privacy, in my mind at least, is a fairy tale.

 

They would just start doing mail covers and warrantless mail openings again like they did under HTLINGUAL if they got wind that "terrorists" were now avoiding electronic communications in favor of reverting back to the old fashion way of communicating which currently enjoys reduced scrutiny.

I suppose mailing encrypted SD cards could take the place of traditional letters and crude handwritten codes.

 

LOL! Just amazing the stuff you know. I have a mental image of your Comm Shop, a place where James Bond goes to acquire a radio or phone.

But seriously, it is nice to know that you can take I products off tracking mode.

 

BTW- why do we assume that the gov't tapped into the places uninvited? To me it sounds like the President has been friends and partners with a few of these guys for a while.

They say the closed door meeting was regarding economy etc.... but was it really? Don't forget Zuckerberg made lots of money in his stock flop. I think lots of deals have been made.

Obama to Meet With Jobs, Zuckerberg - Washington Wire - WSJ

 

Closer and closer. I don't think ANY smartphone can have the batteries removed. My Nokia Lumia can't.

 

Well at least I-messages are secure.

I think.

Maybe.

 

As disturbed as I am by this, I can't honestly say that I'm surprised.

 

Like many I don't have anything to hide and if they store all this information and use it for the intended purpose of scanning it looking for phrases and comms between the USA and Waziristan or Chechnya no problem. Not that it helped with the presure cooker guys or the Times Square bombers...
But barry and his cadre have proven that they will use anything against their perceived enemies.

Some words from a recent Roger Water Wall show:

Mother should I trust the government?

 

No mention of the largest ISPs, I would bet that they are pulling information from these guys as well.

1. Comcast
2. RoadRunner (Time Warner Cable)
3. Midcontinent Communications
4. Optimum Online (Cablevision)
5. Charter Communications
6. Cox Communications
7. Insight Communications
8. Surewest Broadband
9. Prairiewave Telecommunications

 

I think it's time to learn Navajo, and coded smoke signals.....

 

All I want to know is where is the PRISM API?