WaPo "hedged its stunning claim" about companies giving "Government direct access to their servers"

[ProSense]

The Washington Post Has Now Hedged Its Stunning Claim About Google, Facebook, Etc, Giving The Government Direct Access To Their Servers

Henry Blodget

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported a shocking story about how the FBI and National Security Agency had partnered with Google, Facebook, and many other tech companies to spy on the tech companies' hundreds of millions of users...government agencies, the Post said, were "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 Post story described a "career intelligence officer" as being so horrified by the power and privacy intrusion of this surveillance system that the officer was helping to leak the news..."They quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type,” the officer reportedly told the Post.

<...>

That change is important. The direct-access claim changes from a fact asserted by the Washington Post to a claim made in a document the Washington Post has seen--a document that might be wrong.

The idea that Google, Facebook, Apple, et al, had voluntarily given the government direct unfettered access to their servers always seemed far-fetched.

- more -

http://www.businessinsider.com/washington-post-updates-spying-story-2013-6

People are discussing the target of the program, but few seem to be addressing the bizarre friggin claim in WaPo story about these companies giving the government direct access to their servers.

Obama: PRISM Doesn’t Apply To U.S. Citizens
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022965452

[geek tragedy]

1. Also the change that it tracks foreign targets

nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track foreign targets,

[Major Hogwash]

2. I gave the Washington Post direct access to my ass!!

They can kiss it all they want to!!

[WillyT]

3. Have You Seen The Slide Show ???

This is FROM the NSA.

DULink: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022967471

[ProSense]

4. Are you challenging WaPo on its changes?

I mean, it appears they got the story wrong on a number of levels. For all we know, the document is bullshit.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. You know this thread will drop like a rock

because the grassy poutrage must be fed!!

[bunnies]

6. Have you seen this article?

http://www.businessinsider.com/is-the-nsa-prism-spying-program-a-hoax-2013-6

Looks like some are not convinced that slide show is legit.

[FarCenter]

8. The Prism logo and the green arrow are different on the Guardian story

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data

[bunnies]

5. The linked article about the "slide-show" as a potential hoax is very interesting.

Especially considering WaPo's walking back of the story. hmmm.

[DevonRex]

9. All part of the all-out RW propaganda machine. LOL! Unpaid interns

Probably put that together.

[bunnies]

11. Looks like a 7 year old created it.

So I wouldnt be surprised!

[DevonRex]

15. It does remind me of stickers, now that

I think about it. Oh my. Oh dear. [url=http://www.desismileys.com/][img][/img][/url]

[FarCenter]

10. The co-author of the WaPo article is Laura Poitras

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Poitras

[okaawhatever]

12. The price of the program as $20 mil is suspect.The gov't can't do much with $20 mil certainly not

spy on 340,000,000 people. The New York Times also changed their "the President has lost all credibility" and added "on this matter".

[Cha]

13. There's the whole denial by Zuckerman, too..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022967669

thanks ProSense

[sheshe2]

14. K&R

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!

Thank ProSense!

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

16. Having worked for a large networking server manufacturing company

I can tell you that it is required that we provide a back door for the government, to more easily access the data that traverses it, on every server we sell.

though it was always assumed that our gov would not abuse this privilege considering our constitutional protections but boy were we wrong.

911 really has changed everything.

[ProSense]

17. Please respond to this poll:

Does PRISM focus on American or foreign targets?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022968640

[DCKit]

18. yeah, it's shocking.

[cascadiance]

19. Perhaps time to revisit a strange set of events with google "censorship" I noticed some years back

Here's an old post of what I noticed of some curious timing of events around how it appeared google was doctoring he search hits (or lack thereof) retrieved both for google alerts messages and for its news search hits regarding Sibel Edmonds coincident to the timing of the arrests of an Israeli spy in our midst...

With this new information, I wonder if its worth revisiting some of these past "conjectures" that many of us had of how corporate America might have been collaborating with the NSA, etc. in the government.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=39220

This was a post for something that happened almost seven years ago... But perhaps it is relevant today?

[gulliver]

20. Wapo really on the line here.

NYT blew it's rep on Judith Miller. And Wapo is circling the toilet drain when it collaborates with the likes of Glenn Greenwald. Anyone at the controls at Wapo?