The FBI’s PRISM program, and what it means for us

Google Data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The NSA obtaining metadata from Verizon is concerning. It’s tough for many to cannonball into the deep end of fear, but the news is increasingly troublesome the past few days. If the court order our NSA had against Verizon troubled you, PRISM may send you off that diving board.

PRISM is an FBI program designed to do one thing: collect data about you. Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), PRISM allows the FBI to access the database of 9 major tech companies to access data about users. The chart below details who is involved, and when they joined.

What is FISA?

Enacted in 1978, FISA is a law which “prescribes procedures for requesting judicial authorization for electronic surveillance and physical search of persons engaged in espionage or international terrorism against the United States on behalf of a foreign power.” This may include US citizens who are suspected of espionage or terrorism.
PRISM is simply a program to carry out the groundwork FISA laid. We can point directly to it as the culprit, and it is, but it’s also just the first domino. We know the first domino is PRISM, and we know the next 9 are tech companies subject to the program’s reach. After that, it gets hazy.

Clandestine power

Like the NSA’s executive order we told you about yesterday, FISA is nothing new. This has been in effect for 35 years. For many of us, this program has been in effect and operating our whole lives.
Programs like these are not meant to see the light of day, nor should they. If the goal is to identify and defuse threats, these types of programs should never be made public. The cat-and-mouse game the FBI plays with bad guys is meant to be played out behind closed doors. The days of trenchcoats and fountain pen guns are over.
Accordingly, the FBI and all government agencies designed to identify risk have been made to change their methodology. Whereas wiretaps and stakeouts with donuts used to be how things got done, we’ve all changed how we do things. When there are entire cells of terrorists who may never actually meet, the days of following someone, physically, are over. Now, they follow bad guys digitally.
It's also worth noting that most communication flows through the US at some point. As the chart below points out, calls and digital messages don't always take a direct route. Your message or call may bounce all over the globe before reaching its destination. Even as it relates to foreign terrorism, this program may be able to stem the tide.

What do they want to know?

Everything. Literally. This goes much further than the NSA court order on Verizon. This encomapsses everything you do, and everywhere you do it. Have photos stored digitally? They can check that out. Did you say something crazy in a Google+ Hangout last week? They may have seen that. Did you send a cat video to your mom? The FBI may have got a chuckle.
The real question for us is not what they want to know, it’s why. Again, this is where we get stuck. We know, via leaked documents and slides, what they want to know. We still have no idea why. We can look to all manner of acts, amendments, and bills passed into law, yet we still have no idea why they’re looking for this info.
That’s probably because they don’t know, either. The NSA agreement with Verizon garnered only “metadata”, with no personal information. This program and act, however, allow for a much more thorough vetting of citizens. The government may know what we like, where we go, and what we do – at any point of our life.

A firm grasp

FISA, for most of us, has been going on our whole life. I would venture to say that all readers of this article have remained safe from FBI harassment, and probably even surveillance.
Our lives are digital, now. We live online, so the days of FBI agents in disguise, following you to the liquor store, are over. Whereas the FBI could once snap photos of you meeting with other people of a suspicious nature, those meetings are now done via chats and emails. The cat-and-mouse game has gone digital.
We tend to react to news like this by taking personal offense. For us, the online world is very real and personal. Even if we do get out and go camping, or some other activity where the Internet isn’t welcome, we later share those moments online. We upload pictures, or share videos. We tell stories, and make future plans to go back.
This is not the information the FBI wants. PRISM may be all-encompassing, and a bit vague, but it has to be. If we live online, that’s where the FBI needs to go to find the information they seek. If you’re not doing anything wrong, you won’t have anything to worry about. Again, this has been going on our whole lives, and we haven’t had any problems.

None of us can foresee the future, so anticipating an Orwellian life won’t do any good. PRISM may be more thorough than the NSA news yesterday, but that doesn’t mean it will cause more any trouble for us. In analyzing my present, and past, PRISM has had no effect on me. It didn’t have any effect before I knew it existed, and probably won’t moving forward.
Should we be comfortable with it? No. Is it going away? No. It will remain part of our subconscious for quite some time, but the effects on our personal lives will probably be nil. It’s an egregious and pervasive tactic by the FBI, but where is the recourse? That’s the news I want to read.
We can either have our privacy and suffer the consequences of the troubled souls in this world, or we can accept that the government is probably trying in earnest to stop them as best they know how. While it’s not ideal, it’s the system we live with.

Source:The Washington Post

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