Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

background stuff .. U.S. Collects Vast Data Trove

NSA Monitoring Includes Three Major Phone Companies, as Well as Online Activity

By SIOBHAN GORMAN, EVAN PEREZ and JANET HOOK
Updated June 7, 2013, 9:25 a.m. ET
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324299104578529112289298922.html

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How the Washington Post Lost the PRISM Exclusive

The Atlantic WireBy Abby Ohlheiser | The Atlantic Wire – 21 hrs ago

After a series of stunning reports from the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald on the NSA's data collection programs, the paper will no doubt remain a central figure in the story of Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked the PRISM slides in the first place. But, according to one of the reporters by-lined on the Washington Post's PRISM story, the exclusive was theirs to lose: it was offered to them first.

RELATED: What Did Tech Companies Know About the NSA and When Did they Know It?
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/06/washington-post-nsa-backtrack-denials/65998/

http://news.yahoo.com/washington-post-lost-prism-exclusive-023706058.html

====== this linked in the one just above

What Did Tech Companies Know About the NSA and When Did they Know It?

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II Comments (10)

Dashiell Bennett 1,938 Views Jun 7, 2013

The technology giants that were implicated in the NSA/data mining bombshell have so vigorously denied any acknowledgment of the program that The Washington Post has had to quietly pull back its claim that the major firms were complicit in the snooping. In the original version of the Post story that went up on Thursday, the paper claimed that nine companies mentioned by name in the report "participate knowingly" in the widespread collection of data from their servers.

Reporters Barton Gellman and Laura Poitras did write that "several" of the companies they reached out to before publication had denied knowledge of the program, but that did not cause them leave out that assertion at publication. Once the story broke, however, the companies went on the defensive, issuing very public denials that they were in on the plan. The denials were so stout that the paper seems to have walked back that small, but important aspect of the story. It appears the phrase "participate knowingly" has been removed from the piece and an explanatory paragraph added in that subtly acknowledges it may have been the result of a misunderstanding. There are no notes or indications on the Post website that the story had been altered.

Given the fact that NSA acknowledges the PRISM program exists (and defends it as vital and useful) and the fact that tech companies claim so strongly to know nothing about it, it seems there's going to be some debate over the next few days about how exactly the program worked. There is also sure to be lots of fingerpointing and accusations that tech companies are either lying or foolish. (Everyone already thinks that about the government.) While the Director of National Intelligence has promised more information about how it was supposed to work, the squabble over logistics and responsibility is likely to overshadow the larger debate about whether this should be happening at all.

Finally, the Post was not the only paper to get caught changing their tune on the NSA story as it's been unfolding so quickly. The New York Times also rolled back their scathing editorial that attacked president's information "dragnet." (And that was originally written even before the Internet component was made known.)

After grabbing everyone's attention with their assertion that "The administration has now lost all credibility," the paper later went back and amended this key pullquote to add "on this issue." As a web publication, we obviously appreciate the ability to edit stories on the fly (and this final version is the one that appears in today's paper), and the Times editorial page editor says the change was made for "clarity's sake," but it may play into the hands of Times critics who already believe its editorial board lives to carry water for the President. (Update: Even the Times's public editor thinks there's should have been an update to the editorial.)

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at [e-mail]. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/06/washington-post-nsa-backtrack-denials/65998/

===== this one from a link in the one just above and includes Clapper's June 6 2013 statement

The NSA Is Funneling Your Internet Life from Silicon Valley to Obama's Desk

Pete Souza/White House/Flickr (Obama)

Comments Comments (57)

Abby Ohlheiser and Rebecca Greenfield 24,333 Views Jun 6, 2013

(We're adding to this developing story as more information is available. The latest is here. We're also collecting the responses of companies named in the Washington Post scoop)

Many links: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/06/nsa-prism-program/65994/#update5

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Surely non-identifying information about me isn’t being passed around willy-nilly anywhere else, right?

Right. Oh, unless you use the internet.

If that’s the case, non-identifying information about you is being passed around constantly from site to site in the form of cookies and other methods of technological whimsy.

At a basic level, how you access the Internet works similarly to how a phone call takes place as described above. Your cable modem, for instance, has IMSI- and IMEI-like numbers that get passed along to Comcast, and all the stuff you search for and all the sites you visit get piped through Comcast’s network. Replace “Comcast” with your internet service provider in this instance.

For most people, this happens in a non-identifying, metadata-y way on a day-to-day basis. But if the NSA (or the FBI or some other acronym) comes knocking, metadata – telephony or otherwise – can generally be personally tied to you with a little more digging.

Sleep tight!

Read more: http://techland.time.com/2013/06/06/verizon-telephony-metadata-the-national-security-agency-and-you/#ixzz2VsGEaQ3O

.. for the most technologically barren people as me, the last one has some technical metadata details in it ..