As controversy continues to swirl around whistleblower Edward Snowden and his whereabouts, the Washington Post from the NSA presentation that the former CIA staffer leaked to both the Post and the Guardian — slides that provide further details about the surveillance program known as PRISM and how it functions.

Among other things, the slides highlight the large discrepancies between the way the program is described and such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Facebook about their participation in such a program.

For example, according to annotations from the Post — based on what the newspaper says is its own reporting, been published yet — PRISM involves “government equipment on private company property” that is used to retrieve information from “participating companies such as Microsoft or Yahoo” that is then passed on “without further review” to the NSA.

The equipment that is installed on company premises — referred to as an “interception unit” — is reportedly managed by the FBI, which then passes the information to one or more “customers” such as the NSA, CIA or FBI.



In what could prove to be an explosive revelation about the extent of the PRISM program, the Post reports that “depending on the provider” of the information, the “receive live notifications when a target logs on or sends an e-mail,” and also allows the spy agency to “monitor a voice, text or voice chat as it happens.” Real-time access to conversations and communication was hinted at in earlier reports, but the new slides provide the first confirmation that it is possible and even routine.



Most of the major technology companies that are mentioned in the PRISM slides — including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Skype and AOL — any kind of “back door” or other method that gives the NSA direct access to their servers. Stories in the New York Times and elsewhere that the companies have set up, which would fit the description given by the latest slides, but Google’s chief counsel is involved in any such system.



One of the slides more than 117,000 “active surveillance targets” as of April 5, presumably meaning foreign nationals who were being surveilled for their potential role in attacks on the U.S. A number of reports about the program have said that information — primarily “metadata” about phone calls, emails and other communications — about American citizens is also collected through such systems, but the NSA and other agencies try to expunge it before reading it.



More than ever, I think it's time to admit that their might be little or no chance of me going to America. Not because I don't want to, I mean heck I bet it's an awesome place but the problem is with NSA and the other hidden programs. I don't like being paranoid but it's safe to assume that in things aren't that well. There were some slides leaked and they're quite interesting. You should probably check them out below:via:The part that rattles me is the E-mail bit and Web forum and it reminds me of some long chat with someone. Although I already believed what he said but this new evidence sort of reinforces it further. It's kinda like the next step forward in keeping taps on things. Problem is, it's too late for me to ditch things and just start over, I am already overexposed and again I am harmless but I do fear that someday, some nut will just use me as a scapegoat for his own means.I just hope I don't labeled like the rest. I do troll a lot but I always try to be harmless.So, guys (talking to the monitoring group) give me some privacy manI know I enjoy fapping on cam but just imagining others are watching me or logging me doing it, sort of creeps me out.Btw, no more Skype communication from now on, that includes Google E-mail as well.Peace