NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program
(note/edit: I've made an error of conflation between the recently reported massive phone record sweep-up and PRISM, which according to the WP, simply allows analysts to trace (essentially) the totality of someone's online interactions, though not everyone at once. So really, things don't seem that much different than last week when it was well known that the government has discretion to warrantlessly tap us. Still, $20M a year is a pretty good price for a government contract)
Isn't it kind of surprising that the leak for this came from a career intelligence officer and not one of the many tech-utopia idealists who work at these kinds of startups? Not necessarily someone at the executive level, but one of the scores of employees required to assess, review, and implement the alleged backdoor? It's not just a matter of ethics, but just that you'd think someone must be idealistic/reckless enough to leak it from the companies' side
Edit: Also, as has been pointed out elsewhere...this program only cost $20M a year? If that's the price of eternal security, I'd say we got a pretty goddamn good deal. The shitstack that is the government's stimulus contracts database alone cost $18M to build (http://www.propublica.org/article/stimulus-transparency-watc...). And what percentage of a fighter jet's paint job does $20M cover?
I'd say it's possible that the government is unconstitutionally intruding on our privacy but also doing it in a bumbling way (which also has its downsides).
It's no coincidence this is called PRISM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beam_splitter
Some parts of this technology are actual prisms (several patents pop-up via google) , this might remove all parties legally speaking.
Furthermore these can be installed fairly easily without anyone really knowing, though some physical access is required.
The same technique was used in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A and pretty much all over every pipe, including the one this data went throught to show up on Hacker News.
I'm not sure why this is a big surprise to anyone. I'm a cynic, but if anyone asked me whether I think the NSA, CIA, or FBI are eavesdropping on personal communications, I would say, "of course they are." This is nothing new: ECHELON, Clipper/Skipjack, Carnivore, ...
Two days, two major reveals, wouldn't be suprised if tomorrow I wake up to find out that they've been switching on the microphones and cameras on webcams and cellphones.
Why leave Apple off the list in the title submission?
(Because they deny it? Then better leave Google off the list, too - they deny it as well).
I wonder if the NSA and the politicians that enabled this realize the amount of economic damage this could do to the US by promoting the balkanization of the world's telecom networks and spreading mistrust for US tech and telecom companies. This seems very short sighted, if they care about that stuff at all.
Now. Exactly which data is exposed for each provider?
I'm thinking mostly about Gmail. Because virtually everyone now is using it…
The whole content of any communications? Just origin/dest?
This is becoming scary.
Link to delete Google Account:
What really shocks me is why wouldn't a technologist/coder / etc - Whisteblow this sort of information. Why would they sit behind a computer, deploy/design such software, and not have some concern, and go public with this?
This is not about the "NSA, CIA, or FBI" - it's about those other companies enabling those gov agencies to gather such information, why doesn't someone from those companies speak up that deploys this software?
Is it really about $$$? Is it the same reason programmers create SPAM bots?
SOOooooo, which one of you geeks wrote the code to track call data, then wrote a script to export the data to the NSA - THEN you didn't tell the rest of tech community.
DISAPPOINTED IN YOU
So when do we get to read about The Machine in Person of Interest?
Don't worry it looks like they can barely use powerpoint, massive data analysis is a cinch compared to powerpoint (sarcasm)
Eagle Eye...my favorite movie!
While I understand that this had been uncovered today, is it really that surprising.
I'd like the raw/unredacted slides, please (or at least images of them, to protect the source).
I-M-P-E-A-C-H
$20M a year, what a bargain!
Google is dismantling XMPP federation, but if these slides are true then their NSA federation is working better than ever.
For what it's worth Apple and Google denie it: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100797046