\n a graphical insight on how many records were collected for a
\n specific \u201corganizational unit\u201d or country, what type of data was
\n collected and what type of collection was used. The program also
\n allows determining trends in data collection for both strategic
\n and tactical decision making, according to the slides<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n
\n One of the slides contains a part of the Informant\u2019s user
\n interface showing a world map with countries color-coded ranging
\n from green to red depending on the amount of records collected
\n there. While Iran, Pakistan and other some other states are
\n predictably \u201chottest\u201d according to the map, the agency collected
\n almost 3 billion intelligence pieces in the US in March 2013
\n alone.\n<\/p>\n
\n ![\"The](\"http:\/\/admin.rt.com\/files\/news\/1f\/5a\/70\/00\/picture-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n The insight on the software being used by the NSA comes amid the
\n agency spokesperson Judith Emmel\u2019s claims that the NSA cannot at
\n the moment determine how many Americans may be accidentally
\n included in its surveillance.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cCurrent technology simply does not permit us to positively
\n identify all of the persons or locations associated with a given
\n communication,\u201d<\/i> Emmel said Saturday adding that \u201cit is
\n harder to know the ultimate source or destination, or more
\n particularly the identity of the person represented by the TO:,
\n FROM: or CC: field of an e-mail address or the abstraction of an
\n IP address.\u201d<\/i>
\n <\/p>\n\n NSA data sources
\n
<\/h2>\n
\n Another slide from the internal NSA presentation redacted by the
\n Guardian editors details the data gathering methods used in the
\n NSA global surveillance program.
\n <\/p>\n
\n The first method suggests interception of data from \u201cfiber
\n cables and infrastructure as data flows past\u201d<\/i> under the FISA
\n Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008, Section 702.\n<\/p>\n
\n The second distinguished method is data collection \u201cdirectly
\n from the servers of the US service providers.\u201d<\/i>\n<\/p>\n
\n ![\"The](\"http:\/\/admin.rt.com\/files\/news\/1f\/5a\/70\/00\/picture-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n The presentation encourages analysts to use both methods for
\n better results.\n<\/p>\n
\n Google, Facebook negotiated \u2018secure portals\u2019 to share data with
\n NSA?
\n<\/h2>\n
\n Meanwhile, a report by the New York Times revealed that Internet
\n giants, including Google and Facebook, have been in negotiations
\n with the US security agency over \u2018digital rooms\u2019 for sharing the
\n requested data. The companies still insist there is no \u201cback
\n door\u201d for a direct access to user data on their servers.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Internet companies seem more compliant with the spy agencies
\n than they want to appear to their users, and are cooperating on
\n \u201cbehind-the-scenes transactions\u201d of the private information,
\n according to a report that cites anonymous sources \u201cbriefed on
\n the negotiations.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n According to the report, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL,
\n Apple and Paltalk have \u201copened discussions with national security
\n officials about developing technical methods to more efficiently
\n and securely share the personal data of foreign users in response
\n to lawful government requests,\u201d sometimes \u201cchanging\u201d their
\n computer systems for this purpose.\n<\/p>\n
\n These methods included a creation of \u201cseparate, secure portals\u201d
\n online, through which the government would conveniently request
\n and acquire data from the companies.\n<\/p>\n
\n ![\"A](\"http:\/\/admin.rt.com\/files\/news\/1f\/5a\/70\/00\/picture-3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Twitter was the only major Internet company mentioned in the
\n report that allegedly declined to facilitate the data transfer to
\n the NSA in a described way. As opposed to a legitimate FISA
\n request, such a move was considered as not \u201ca legal requirement\u201d
\n by Twitter.\n<\/p>\n
\n The sources claim the negotiations have been actively going in
\n the recent months, referring to a Silicon Valley visit of the
\n chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin E. Dempsey. Dempsey
\n is said to have met the executives of Facebook, Microsoft, Google
\n and Intel to secretly discuss their collaboration on the
\n government\u2019s \u201cintelligence-gathering efforts.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n NSA pressured to declassify more PRISM details
\n<\/h2>\n
\n In response to the fury over US government\u2019s counterterrorism
\n techniques, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper for
\n the second time in three days revealed some details of the PRISM
\n data-scouring program.\n<\/p>\n
\n Being one of the \u201cmost important tools for the protection of
\n the nation’s security\u201d<\/i> the PRISM is an internal government
\n computer system for collecting \u201cforeign intelligence
\n information from electronic communication service providers under
\n court supervision,\u201d<\/i> Clapper said.\n<\/p>\n
\n He also said that PRISM seeks foreign intelligence information
\n concerning foreign targets located outside the US and cannot
\n intentionally target any US citizen or any person known to be in
\n the US. As for \u201cincidentally intercepted\u201d<\/i> information
\n about a US resident, the dissemination of such data is prohibited
\n unless it is \u201cevidence of a crime\u201d<\/i>, \u201cindicates\u201d<\/i> a
\n serious threat, or is needed to \u201cunderstand foreign
\n intelligence or assess its importance.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Clapper also stressed that the agency operates with a court
\n authority and that it does not unilaterally obtain information
\n from the servers of US telecoms and Internet giants without their
\n knowledge and a FISA Court judge approval.\n<\/p>\n