Ok, so the one thing we have figured out in the past couple of days is that the NSA undoubtedly has the ability to collect almost all user data and internet traffic, even for US citizens.
Now, what do they do with it? The guardian is claiming that 77,000 reports have referenced PRISM but it is also the name of an internal accounting program (http://www.dot.gov/individuals/privacy/pia-prism)
We have a long way to go with this NSA issue. I believe that they are a great agency but have a very difficult job to preform, and unfortunately their mission sometimes requires questionable actions. They're powerful enough to make anything they want legal retro-actively, which isn't necessarily a good thing.
Many people assume that the NSA has been "spying" domestically for decades, because it's arguably necessary in order to sufficiently protect the country. I love technology but am already tired of this debate. You are not going to prevent the NSA from data-mining, end of story.
The Federal Aviation Administration's "PRISM" is obviously not the one discussed now in public, and not the one ending in the reports to the president. I invite everybody once again to read the Post and Guardian, they obviously have so much material and try to post only as much as to make the public aware of the legal aspects of the system: the blanket special court orders, allowing companies not to do anything, not even track what is being requested, the orders valid for months and practically automatically renewed. It is "legal."
Your link is broken, should be: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/08/nsa-prism-server...
Now, what do they do with it? The guardian is claiming that 77,000 reports have referenced PRISM but it is also the name of an internal accounting program (http://www.dot.gov/individuals/privacy/pia-prism)
We have a long way to go with this NSA issue. I believe that they are a great agency but have a very difficult job to preform, and unfortunately their mission sometimes requires questionable actions. They're powerful enough to make anything they want legal retro-actively, which isn't necessarily a good thing.
Many people assume that the NSA has been "spying" domestically for decades, because it's arguably necessary in order to sufficiently protect the country. I love technology but am already tired of this debate. You are not going to prevent the NSA from data-mining, end of story.