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> No, because nobody would do that and the NSA has no legal authority with which to force that. Companies wouldn't agree to this because they have everything to

> No, because nobody would do that and the NSA has no legal authority with which to force that. Companies wouldn't agree to this because they have everything to lose and nothing to gain. Not claiming I'm well read up on this but wasn't a big part of the leaks that companies were cooperating with the NSA in secret? http://www.wired.com/2014/01/how-the-us-almost-killed-the-internet/ http://www.wired.com/2014/01/how-the-us-almost-killed-the-in... "Gellman wanted to be the first to expose a top-secret NSA program called Prism. Snowden’s files indicated that some of the biggest companies on the web had granted the NSA and FBI direct access to their servers, giving the agencies the ability to grab a person’s audio, video, photos, emails, and documents."

wavefunction 11y ago
Not only that, these companies (AT&T) for example get paid to provide the access.
arebop 11y ago
No, the prism leaks show that the NSA had access to data. It is often implied by various commentators that the access was facilitated by the companies, but there's no evidence to support that. The evidence about companies cooperating with NSA on mass surveillance came out in the first decade of the 2000s, e.g., http://www.salon.com/2006/06/21/att_nsa/ http://www.salon.com/2006/06/21/att_nsa/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A
kllrnohj 11y ago
The telcos (AT&T, Verizon, etc...) were cooperating, but that also fell under existing wiretap laws-ish and was known-ish. There had been rumors about it for years, there have been photos of mysterious governement vans of equipment showing up at sites, special locked rooms, etc... Those companies also haven't denied it. However there is none of that for any of the other companies listed under Prism. Later leaks from Snowden suggest that the companies listed in Prism did not know they were part of Prism (places where inter-dc traffic was being spliced, that sort of thing). Also just practically speaking with how fast companies rise & fall in this area doing this on a per-company basis wouldn't scale. Like when would you expect the NSA to approach, say, WhatsApp? Or Snapchat?

wavefunction 11y ago

Not only that, these companies (AT&T) for example get paid to provide the access.

arebop 11y ago

No, the prism leaks show that the NSA had access to data. It is often implied by various commentators that the access was facilitated by the companies, but there's no evidence to support that. The evidence about companies cooperating with NSA on mass surveillance came out in the first decade of the 2000s, e.g., http://www.salon.com/2006/06/21/att_nsa/ http://www.salon.com/2006/06/21/att_nsa/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A

kllrnohj 11y ago

The telcos (AT&T, Verizon, etc...) were cooperating, but that also fell under existing wiretap laws-ish and was known-ish. There had been rumors about it for years, there have been photos of mysterious governement vans of equipment showing up at sites, special locked rooms, etc... Those companies also haven't denied it. However there is none of that for any of the other companies listed under Prism. Later leaks from Snowden suggest that the companies listed in Prism did not know they were part of Prism (places where inter-dc traffic was being spliced, that sort of thing). Also just practically speaking with how fast companies rise & fall in this area doing this on a per-company basis wouldn't scale. Like when would you expect the NSA to approach, say, WhatsApp? Or Snapchat?