Dear Commons Community,

The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time.

As reported in The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and other media, the highly classified program, code-named PRISM, has not been disclosed publicly before. Its establishment in 2007 and six years of exponential growth took place beneath the surface of a roiling debate over the boundaries of surveillance and privacy. Even late last year, when critics of the foreign intelligence statute argued for changes, the only members of Congress who know about PRISM were bound by oaths of office to hold their tongues.

Some of the world’s largest internet brands are claimed to be part of the information-sharing program since its introduction in 2007. Microsoft -– which is currently running an advertising campaign with the slogan “Your privacy is our priority” -– was the first, with collection beginning in December 2007.

It was followed by Yahoo in 2008; Google, Facebook and PalTalk in 2009; YouTube in 2010; Skype and AOL in 2011; and finally Apple, which joined the program in 2012. The program is continuing to expand, with other providers due to come online.

When the White House was asked to respond to Wednesday’s disclosure, pertaining to the seizure of telecom metadata, officials defended “the practice as a critical tool for preventing terrorist attacks.” That is presumably the explanation that will be given in support of this data mining program, in which many well-known technology companies “knowingly participate.”

Big brother is here!!

Tony