Intelligence Program Gives US Government Direct Access to Customer Data on Apple ServersThe Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers are reporting on a top secret intelligence program that gives the U.S. National Security Agency direct access to user data on corporate servers across a wide spectrum of Internet companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple. Apple reportedly joined the program in 2012, though Microsoft has been involved since 2007. It is unknown how or why Apple resisted joining the program for five years, nor why it decided to join in 2012. Twitter is noticeably absent from the list of companies, while Dropbox is said to be "coming soon". Data from the program, code-named PRISM, is frequently used in the President's Daily Brief -- a daily intelligence report for the U.S. President -- with PDB briefings citing PRISM data 1,477 times last year. The Post reports that data from PRISM accounts for nearly 1 in 7 intelligence reports. From The Washington Post: PRISM is an heir, in one sense, to a history of intelligence alliances with as many as 100 trusted U.S. companies since the 1970s. The NSA calls these Special Source Operations, and PRISM falls under that rubric. The Silicon Valley operation works alongside a parallel program, code-named BLARNEY, that gathers up “metadata” — address packets, device signatures and the like — as it streams past choke points along the backbone of the Internet. BLARNEY’s top-secret program summary, set down alongside a cartoon insignia of a shamrock and a leprechaun hat, describes it as “an ongoing collection program that leverages IC [intelligence community] and commercial partnerships to gain access and exploit foreign intelligence obtained from global networks.” Theoretically, the program is used to obtain data on foreign operatives, but it is possible for the NSA to scoop up untold amounts of data related to American citizens as well. The Washington Post and Guardian stories contain much more about PRISM, including slides from a PowerPoint presentation outlining the program that is classified TOP SECRET. The Guardian reported earlier today that the National Security Agency is collecting call logs from Verizon Business Network Services "on an ongoing daily basis" on all calls "between the United States and abroad" or "wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls." The data includes "the numbers of both parties on a call […], as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls". Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the comment thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All MacRumors forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • SimCity for Mac Delayed Until August • Hulu Plus App Updated with Redesigned iPad Experience • Development Team Led by John Gruber Releases New Note-Taking App Vesper • Airbus Unveils Prototype iPhone-Enabled Smart Luggage • Intel Shows Off Prototype 128GB Thunderbolt Thumb Drive • Dropbox Beta for Mac Adds Automatic Screenshot Sharing and More • Las Vegas' Fashion Show Apple Store Getting Major Expansion • Apple Retail's New Machines for Calibrating Replacement iPhone 5 Displays
http://www.macrumors.com/2013/06/06/intelligence-program-gives-us-government-direct-access-to-customer-data-on-apple-servers/
