PRISM

PRISM, The Guardian, slide #2.

Purpose:

PRISM is an NSA programme that exploits data collected by the FBI’s Data Intercept Technology Unit (DITU) from nine major US corporations including Facebook, Google and Apple. There is no single PRISM database. Rather, when the data arrives at the NSA, it is sorted and distributed to the following systems:

• MARINA: Internet metadata
• MAINWAY: telephone metadata
• NUCLEON: voice content
• PINWALE: selected email and other content

MARINA is the counterpart of PRISM, where MARINA stores metadata and PRISM provides access to content. The telephone counterparts are MAINWAY (metadata) and NUCLEON (content) (MOJ01).

Mother Jones Magazine, Four programmes.

According to the leaked slides, PRISM is the biggest single contributor to the NSA’s intelligence reporting (GUA01).

Capabilities:

• Access to content and metadata from service providers via the FBI

Data sources:

• Content and metadata from nine major US companies:
  • Google
  • Skype
  • Facebook
  • Yahoo
  • Microsoft
  • Apple
  • YouTube
  • AOL
  • PalTalk

Related programmes:

MARINA – NSA repository for Internet metadata.

PINWALE – NSA content repository.

Layers of operation:

• Application layer: Collection of content and metadata through interfaces created by service providers.
• Social layer: Aggregation of content and metadata from multiple applications.

Background:

PRISM is considered a downstream programme as it collects information from service providers. It is used in conjunction with upstream programmes that collect communications from fibre-optic cables and other infrastructure.

Although PRISM is an NSA programme, GCHQ is a key partner and has full access to the database (GUA02). In 2013, a UK parliamentary committee deemed GCHQ’s activity legal (BBC01). However, in 2015 the Investigatory Powers Tribunal deemed the activity unlawful (GUA03).

Company partners:

• Google
• Skype
• Facebook
• Yahoo
• Microsoft
• Apple
• YouTube
• AOL
• PalTalk

Sources:

BBC News (BBC)
1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23341597

Guardian (GUA)
1) http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/prism-slides-nsa-document
2) http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jun/07/uk-gathering-secret-intelligence-nsa-prism
3) http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/06/gchq-mass-internet-surveillance-unlawful-court-nsa

Mother Jones Magazine (MOJ)
1) http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/06/washington-post-provides-new-history-nsa-surveillance-programs