[andrew93101]

This is the best article I've read yet on the subject of what's actually going on. The NSA slide deck was always inconsistent with most of the public statements of industry execs, and this article reconciles them nicely.

The more I read on PRISM, it seems that PRISM itself is a minor revelation (that being, PRISM just automates what used to be done manually).

Most of the outrage just flows naturally from the Protect America Act, which was never a secret. The public is just now hearing about how the act is used in practice.

[schme]

What I'm really waiting for is that other countries start realizing what this means to them. From what I've seen, most of European media has failed to point out how big of a deal this is to everyone, not just Americans. Not just the fact that a lot of European traffic comes and goes through the US, but in smaller countries this kind of all observing surveillance might be easier to set up (depending on geographical and some other factors of course).

[eli]

It also appears the slide deck was part of a marketing/promotional presentation for the project. It would hardly be the first instance in history of a bit of exaggeration taking place in that sort of scenario.