4 ms·

For the umpteenth time, PRISM is just a database, it's not the program that siphons data from all the telcos. PRISM only contains data that is retrieved via NSL

• nilved 13y ago
  No, PRISM is the facility that allows them to take data directly from backdoors in Facebook, Twitter, etc. It's complemented by upstream, which allows them to collect disorganized data on a much larger scale. PRISM and upstream are the two data siphoning programs that have names.
  • dobbsbob 13y ago
    XKeyscore is the PRISM db search plugin/front end. There's a giant vacuum of everybody's personal data and XKeyscore allows you to see it in real time while it's archived into PRISM or look it up afterwards. http://blog.ted.com/2013/07/17/security-experts-on-the-nsas-real-problems/ http://blog.ted.com/2013/07/17/security-experts-on-the-nsas-... Bruce Schneier: First, be careful with names. PRISM is a specific NSA database, just a part of the overall NSA surveillance effort. The agency has been playing all sorts of games with names, dividing their efforts up and using many different code names in an attempt to disguise what they’re doing. It allows them to deny that a specific program is doing something, while conveniently omitting the fact that another program is doing the thing and the two programs are talking to each other. So I am less interested in what is in the specific PRISM database, and more what the NSA is doing overall with domestic surveillance.
• fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
  >If we want to fight the government on this, we'd better know what we're fighting against. Yes. The gov is very careful with their admissions. They have and will continue to narrow the focus of the debate as much as possible. Notice the President's proposed compromise yesterday focused on the possibility of reforming part of section 215 of the PATRIOT act. This might answer the original Snowden disclosures and should have been done weeks ago. The disclosures to date go quite a bit further than that which can reasonably be addressed by section 215 reform. They want to play a shell game, and if we aren't observant, they will turn this fiasco into a win for them.
• ynniv 13y ago
  Really? The first thing that pops into your head is to argue terminology?
  • PhasmaFelis 13y ago
    It's not terminology, it's basic ignorance about what the government is doing and how. You can't fight NSA snooping on any level if you think that they're sticking a vacuum hose into your server and siphoning out all the bits. These details are important.
    • ynniv 13y ago
      No one in this thread suggested that the NSA is copying data out of servers except you. It has been reported that they are wholesale tapping communications lines, and trying to collect SSL private keys, so Sneak's sentiment is not wrong. To argue terminology is to play their game, which they are good at and we will lose. If you disagree with something on a factual level, say that instead.
      • PhasmaFelis 13y ago
        Here's an example of why understanding the NSA's terminology is important: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/08/guide-deceptions-word-games-obfuscations-officials-use-mislead-public-about-nsa https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/08/guide-deceptions-word-... If a reporter asks a government stooge if the NSA engages in bulk collection of Americans' data, the stooge can say no with a straight face because the NSA has officially defined "bulk collection" to mean something other than "collecting in bulk." In order to carve through their lies, we need to be able to understand and navigate their twisted terminology.
  • saraid216 13y ago
    Blanket outrage is useless unless you plan to depose the government.
    • ynniv 13y ago
• scarmig 13y ago
  Does what we're fighting against even have a name? If you don't have a name to reference something with, you give it one. PRISM is fine except insofar as using it would let the government go "oh we've reformed PRISM, nothing to see here" while continuing all other kinds of malfeasance.