Every statement by Clapper has mentioned repeatedly how the program is lawful and falls under Section 702 of the FISA act approved by congress etc., etc.
But that assertion is meaningless because as a couple of brave senators have let us know (Wyden, Udall), the very court that's supposed to oversee activities under FISA, the FISC (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) has found the NSAs activities to be unconstitutional[1]. The response to this finding wasn't reform, but to classify the findings themselves.
So, we're supposed to think this is okay because a secret court approves it? A court that doesn't deny requests, a court that was just proven to approve monitoring every phone call in the nation? We're supposed to believe that court is protecting our privacy.
I don't care if this was all legal. Everything the Soviet Union did was legal under their laws. I care that this was wrong.
And they make a big song and dance about every request having judge approval and being overseen by the court, we already know that they just rubber stamp the collection of 'everything' and gag the companies not to talk about it.
PRISM is not an undisclosed collection or data mining program. It is an internal government computer system used to facilitate the government’s statutorily authorized collection of foreign intelligence information from electronic communication service providers under court supervision
But he's not even denying that they directly collect information from those companies. It could be that the slideshow is misleading and PRISM is not the collection program but just the interface to the databanks from the collection program.
But we aren't upset about what PRISM is doing we are upset about what the NSA is doing. So clearing PRISM's name is pointless and could just be a way to mislead without directly lying. Or he may just be lying.
I don't think that Glenn Greenwald would stake his reputation on just a PowerPoint. He claims on Twitter that he has "highly detailed technical NSA materials on how they eavesdrop". [1] Though I'm not sure if that is a reference to the telecom spying or Internet spying.
These are the key words. It appears to be a pipeline, from government to independent corporate networks. The government uses this "system" to retrieve whatever they want to retrieve, and whenever they want to retrieve, the information from independent corporations, following of course the legal procedures.
They aren't telling, and that may be telling on itself. Court approval apparently is needed but then Verizon hands all metadata every day, based on a court approval.
FYI, regarding the headline: James Clapper is the Director of National Intelligence, not the Director of the NSA. The DNI is the boss of the U.S. intelligence community in general, including but not limited to the NSA.
Kim Jong-Un's nephew has (had?) Facebook and other social media accounts[1]. He also bashed his uncle in an interview and lives in exile, but given how the CIA found Bin Laden, it's not hard to imagine how monitoring his Facebook activity and going all the way down the rabbit hole of every spec of information they might find there, could eventually lead to some useful intelligence on North Korea.
But that assertion is meaningless because as a couple of brave senators have let us know (Wyden, Udall), the very court that's supposed to oversee activities under FISA, the FISC (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) has found the NSAs activities to be unconstitutional[1]. The response to this finding wasn't reform, but to classify the findings themselves.
[1]https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/government-says-secret...