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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPRISM: It sounds like the NSA is wiretapping the fiber optic cables of Google, Yahoo, etc. UPSTREAM
This appears to be the conclusion reached by computer security experts Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte in episode 408 of their podcast Security Now (Originally posted by Roco T. in this thread )
Basically, they are suggesting that the NSA is making copies of all of the data that we send out over the Internet to Google before it reaches Google's servers. This data includes emails, instant messages, web search requests, etc. Much of it is not encrypted. The NSA then stores all of this copied data on its own computers.
This would mean that Google, Yahoo, etc. were probably telling the truth when they claimed that they knew nothing about PRISM.
I suspect that this also means that the government does not need to give Google a search warrant in order to collect this data, since the data isn't exactly Google's "property" until it reaches Google's servers.
So how is the collection of this data being regulated? Does the government need a search warrant to look through the copied, unencrypted data that it has stored on its own computers?
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Don't you feel safer?
unrepentant progress
(611 posts)His primary skill is exploiting paranoia to sell his useless products, and market his personal "brand".
ETA: Explore the links at the sites below to learn more about Gibson.
http://attrition.org/errata/charlatan/steve_gibson
http://radsoft.net/news/roundups/grc
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)and the Internet is not just American either...hence they don't think it's protected. And guess what...because of that...if they didnt do it...Russia or China etc would control it...
There in lies the conundrum.
dkf
(37,305 posts)Prism is one part of the program:
But that's not what they call the dragnet of data collection:
Tapping into those cables allows the NSA access to monitor emails, telephone calls, video chats, websites, bank transactions and more. It takes powerful computers to decrypt, store and analyze all this information, but the information is all there, zipping by at the speed of light.
"You have to assume everything is being collected," said Bruce Schneier, who has been studying and writing about cryptography and computer security for two decades.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/secret-prism-success-even-bigger-data-seizure
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Jarla
(156 posts)...in Hepting v. AT&T back in 2006.
giftedgirl77
(4,713 posts)All the conspiracy theories are being spun around & even the people who used to make fun of the tin foil brigade are becoming one.
At this point nobody wants to listen to logic, reasoning, or people who have experience with these issues. According to many the US is just as bad as the former USSR & apparently have nothing better to do then listen to average Americans phone calls about kids sports practices & other daily activities.
Oh look a Ron Paul ad isn't that fuckin convenient.