Does It Really Matter To Us Google Users, If Prism Is Real?

[OldChinaHam]

While searching on Google for a related subject, I happened upon this article:

"NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others

• Top-secret Prism program claims direct access to servers of firms including Google, Apple and Facebook"

"The National Security Agency has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian.

The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called Prism, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says.

The Guardian has verified the authenticity of the document, a 41-slide PowerPoint presentation – classified as top secret with no distribution to foreign allies – which was apparently used to train intelligence operatives on the capabilities of the program. The document claims "collection directly from the servers" of major US service providers."

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

And I was thinking to myself, how much does this really matter to the individual, or to the small company, or the small business, in the US, the UK, in Thailand, and other countries. Many of the encryption algorithms we think are safe and which we rely on may not be so secure in the near future.

So should we be concerned about this Prism program? Or is it something that will never really touch us or influence us in any significant way?

Is there anything we should do to be more cautious about our privacy? Even if we could?

Who do we trust? Which governments should we trusts with our data?

[OldChinaHam]

Although "The New Yorker" was not traditionally known for reporting current events of this sort, the magazine has an interesting story which provides a take on the Washington Post's recent article discussing Prism.

I gather from here, that Americans seem to be more concerned this time than anyone else around the world by the Prism disclosure.

But my above posed question is still how much will this Program really alter how we use the internet? Won't we just continue on as usual.

Still, it sort of seems strange to think that if the New Yorker's statement is correct about what the Washington Post reported, then "they" may be able to watch us typing, and even witness our typos and corrections.

But does this really matter to us?

JUNE 6, 2013

AMERICA THROUGH THE N.S.A.’S PRISM

POSTED BY AMY DAVIDSON

[updated, 2 A.M. June 7th]

“They quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type,” an unnamed intelligence officer told Barton Gellman and Laura Poitras of the Washington Post. “They” are the National Security Agency, and the Post report reveals that an N.S.A. program called Prism has, for the past six years, been “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.”

These were not occasional, extraordinary incursions: the Post, in addition to talking to the intelligence officer—who decided to speak out of a concern for civil liberties that seems to have been distinctly lacking at higher levels—obtained PowerPoint slides from an internal N.S.A. briefing and other documents. The Guardian also got the briefing materials. One of the slides explains that “NSA reporting increasingly relies on PRISM” for close to one in seven of its intelligence reports, and the program, which began in 2007, is said to be growing rapidly. The history of Prism, Gellman and Poitras write, “shows how fundamentally surveillance law and practice have shifted away from individual suspicion in favor of systematic, mass collection techniques.”

[2008bangkok]

It doesnt really matter no, infact what we should really do is instead of logging into google to check our email google should just put it up on advertisement boards like on motorways or train stations, that way the whole world can read instead of just a selected few

[SunSeek01]

None of this is new news. The entire reason for the the Prism story at this time is to take attention away from the IRS crimes and also to a lesser extent try to save Holder's job because he lied (again) under oath about the AP crimes.

My opinion only.

[rubberduck]

The entire Internet is a spying apparatus. Facebook for example was funded by InQtel, a venture capital firm run by the CIA. There has been an
incredible amount of information gathered and research done to predict behaviors, with goal being to control society. Here is the interesting portfolio of InQtel: http://www.iqt.org/portfolio/alumni.html . It was not for nothing that Mark Zückerberg received the CIA Surveillance Medal.

[OldChinaHam]

None of this is new news. The entire reason for the the Prism story at this time is to take attention away from the IRS crimes and also to a lesser extent try to save Holder's job because he lied (again) under oath about the AP crimes.

My opinion only.

Yes, but it was the Guardian that did the publishing of the story, not a USA paper. But new or old does not matter so much if the facts as reported are accurate, and this circumstance exists today.

[meom]

None of this is new news. The entire reason for the the Prism story at this time is to take attention away from the IRS crimes and also to a lesser extent try to save Holder's job because he lied (again) under oath about the AP crimes.

My opinion only.

Yes, but it was the Guardian that did the publishing of the story, not a USA paper. But new or old does not matter so much if the facts as reported are accurate, and this circumstance exists today.

If it matters then better get rid of the ricin that Hassan sent you from Yemen the other day. China white might be a better trade.

Now just wait and see if flags go up or not.

[ramrod711]

https://startpage.com/ I'm not really an IT guy but I don't use google for searches any more. This link is to the worlds most private search engine.....supposedly.

[phetphet]

I read an article the other day that said they only look at traffic to and from overseas, not internal. Whether you can believe them or not is another matter.

Surely people just going about their daily business have a right to privacy, and to not have their emails secretly intercepted, and read.

[rubberduck]

The U.S. government wants a criminal investigation into leaks of confidential information about spying by the National Security Agency, using the secret computer program PRISM. The NSA has submitted an official request to do so. A spokesperson of NSA announced Saturday.

Yep, the whistleblowers are addressed hard again by the real villains.

What an asshol_s.

[manarak]

That had been clear to me for a long time already:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/556345-another-one-how-to-muddy-your-tracks-on-the-internetny-times/#entry5318046

[bobl]

Prism? Pffft. How is it any different from echelon? Just another $multi-billion attempt at a 24-esque intelligence wet dream, which is far more likely to be used to persecute people with a collection of MP3's and this week's Game of Thrones, than it is to catch terrorists.

[Khun Jean]

People should check the government, not the other way around.

It should be stopped as quickly as possible.

It is against so many laws and even the constitution it is just ridiculous.

A few million should be out there protesting and demand jail time.

Do it at daytime so you are back on time to watch some more tv.

[bobl]

[lomatopo]

So far it seems like four of the purported thirty-seven ghastly PRISM powerpoint presentation slides have been published widely. This fifth slide has also been in circulation, and it seems to indicate another gathering program referred to as "Upstream", "Collection of communications on fiber cables and infrastructure as data flows past", advising analysts to use both sources/programs. It looks like a build slide with a world map, along with primary communications conduits (including undersea cables), as the base of the slide.

I know the leaker, Mr. Snowden, wanted all 37 slides published so I'm probably not alone in wondering what's on the other slides?

[NomadJoe]

Dear NSA,

My hard drive crashed today. Please can you send me a copy ASAP. I will pay postage. Thank you.

NomadJoe.

[OldChinaHam]

Any interesting updates noteworthy about Snowden?

It does not really seem as if anyone cares about Snowden anymore, except probably Snowden.

Nothing has changed about data collection probably, and all will go on as usual.

The exchange of information between countries which is made possible by leaks, spying, and programs like prism is good for keeping the peace, because it is bad for peace when two countries do not know what each is actually secretly planning.

I still love Google.

Snowden probably now hates where he is living.

Probably he is getting bored with his new life.

Anyone have any incisive observations, besides taking up a collection to send Snowden a care package?

[h90]

Dear NSA,

My hard drive crashed today. Please can you send me a copy ASAP. I will pay postage. Thank you.

NomadJoe.

don't tease them, it is a hard job to watch all these pronos which are 90% of the internet if an terrorist message is hidden inside.

[h90]

Any interesting updates noteworthy about Snowden?

It does not really seem as if anyone cares about Snowden anymore, except probably Snowden.

Nothing has changed about data collection probably, and all will go on as usual.

The exchange of information between countries which is made possible by leaks, spying, and programs like prism is good for keeping the peace, because it is bad for peace when two countries do not know what each is actually secretly planning.

I still love Google.

Snowden probably now hates where he is living.

Probably he is getting bored with his new life.

Anyone have any incisive observations, besides taking up a collection to send Snowden a care package?

Anna Chapman offered to marry him....that doesn't sound boring....