 |
| Image courtesy of Klara on Flickr |
A slide leaked by an anonymous source to the Guardian and The Washington Post claims Prism is a program within the United States National Security Agency (NSA) under which the U.S. Government supposedly has direct access to the information stored by some of the biggest technology companies in the world. These companies include Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Skype, YouTube, AOL and PalTalk. While all of the companies have denied that the U.S. Government has direct access to their servers, the White House has a different statement on the matter, acknowledging the act but denying that it targets U.S. citizens:
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 U.S. 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-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.
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.
Things get even more complicated, because there is indication that the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has had access to the data since June 2010. While Larry Page, CEO of Google, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, have both made personal statements denying any form of participation in the program, there's still a lot that is unclear.I think that it's important not to ignore this, however, I also recognize the practicalities of the situation. I have an account on eight of the nine services listed on the slides and while I'm not going to sit here and claim that I'm going to get up and leave if this is true, and quit Google or Facebook, I think we have a right to request transparency from the government and from these companies on matters of our personal information. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is proposing an amendment that would put an end to this, but barring that, Google has a transparency dashboard where they outline government requests for information, as well as whether or not they comply with those requests, but just yesterday added National Security Letters to that dashboard in the light of this story. Finally, I'd like echo Larry's call for more transparency, so that we can have the freedom that this country was founded for:
Finally, this episode confirms what we have long believed—there needs to be a more transparent approach. Google has worked hard, within the confines of the current laws, to be open about the data requests we receive. We post this information on our Transparency Report whenever possible. We were the first company to do this. And, of course, we understand that the U.S. and other governments need to take action to protect their citizens’ safety—including sometimes by using surveillance. But the level of secrecy around the current legal procedures undermines the freedoms we all cherish.Further reading:
Lifehacker: What the NSA Spying Scandal Means for You
The Guardian: Facebook and Google insist they did not know of Prism surveillance program
The Atlantic: Could This Be How PRISM Technically Works?
