Analyzing Prism Edward Snowden

PRISM- Edward Snowden

PRISM

PRISM, deployed by the NSA (National Security Agency) of United States, is a tool used for private electronic data gathering which belongs to the people who use leading internet services such as Gmail, Outlook, Facebook, etc. In the wake of 9/11, the latest effort made by the U.S. government for electronic surveillance is the development of PRISM, which initially started in the supremacy of President Bush with the Patriot Act, and later extended to include the (FISA) Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Actordained in 2006 and 2007 (Sottek & Kopstein, 2013)

Though the complete knowledge regarding the functioning of PRISM is still unknown, but the basic impression implies that it allows the NSA to apply for data from leading technology companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, Apple, etc. about specific people. However, U.S. government claims that the data can be collected only after acquiring the permission from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. (Sottek & Kopstein, 2013)

Importance of PRISM

Edward Snowden, former NSA contractor, leaked confidential presentation slides specifying facets of PRISM. On 6th June, a report based on the evidences presented through the slides was published by The Guardian and The Washington Post. The report specified NSA's "direct access" to the servers of mentioned popular sites: Google, Facebook etc. However, the companies involved have strongly repudiated any knowledge or association with the PRISM, since the day information and evidences leaked. Also, they rejected the accusations regarding any special allowance to U.S. government to directly access or utilize their user's data.

Moreover, U.S. government and companies both insisted of court approval being mandatory for data collection and that too for specific targets. According to The Washington Post, PRISM is nothing but an advanced system that allows them to accelerate requests for the data collection after court-approval, varying between companies. But, as there are only a few technical details available regarding the maneuvers of PRISM and also due to the fact that FISA court FISC) operated secretly, critics are anxious about the degree of the operation of PRISM as well as regarding the defilement of the legitimate rights of U.S. citizens.

It is pertinent to note that, the American citizens were those most influenced by PRISM and other similar programs. On 4 July, citizen-groups of more than 100 cities in U.S. protested through "Restore the Fourth" rallies against the government's surveillance programs, regarding electronic privacy of the users. Though, it is still unclear that these outrageous rallies would result in some reform or not, but we should be grateful to the young intelligence contractor for his courageous actions, as now, we at least have the idea of what U.S. government has been doing secretly in the name of national security (Sottek & Kopstein, 2013)

How PRISM Made it to the Newspapers

Amongst the significant leaks of sensitive information, over the past few decades, Snowden's revelation of PRISM has its own importance, as The Guardian published its first bombshell story on the basis of this leaked information about U.S. surveillance program, in 2013. Over six months, innumerable stories and revelations rolled through the newspapers (Bicchierai, 2014). The first revelation appeared on 5-6 June 2013, which initially exposed gathering data from Verizon and a day later, about digital information through PRISM. On June 9, Snowden revealed his identity. The Post revealed an internal audit on August 15, showing violation of privacy rules. While 29th August issue revealed the 'black budget,' detailing the aims, successes and failures of U.S. intelligence communities' 16 spy agencies. On September 1, tensions with Brazil arise as reported through Brazil's O Globo newspaper. 13 thSeptember issue of The Post revealed that the act of gathering all call records for counterterrorism purpose is justified. While the October 14 and 24 posts revealed that Germans launched inquiry of spying accusations and disclosure of NSA's surveillance of world leaders, consecutively. On October 30, reports came about NSA covert taping activities on Google, Yahoo, etc. Newspaper of December 4 revealed collection of cell phone location records by NSA. On December 8, tech companies demanded for new limits on surveillance. While on December 16, judge ruled this gathering of Americans' phone records as illegal. And on 18 December 2013, review panel insisted for new limits on surveillance. (Elliott & Rupar, 2013)

Is This Government Action Justified?

Many people like Ben Wizner, legal adviser to Edward Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg, a former U.S. military analyst, enthusiastically considered accused Snowden as a whistle-blower who did a great service to U.S. citizens by revealing secretive surveillance programs conducted by U.S. government. They believed that release of such highly confidential national security documents ignited an important public debate needed for re-evaluation of covert U.S. surveillance programs.