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Inside PRISM: Why the Government Hates Encryption

Posted by timothy on from the they-hate-envelopes-too dept.

Lauren Weinstein writes "Now, what's really going on with PRISM? The government admits that the program exists, but says it is being 'mischaracterized' in significant ways (always a risk with secret projects sucking up information about your citizens' personal lives). The Internet firms named in the leaked documents are denying that they have provided 'back doors' to the government for data access. Who is telling the truth? Likely both. Based on previous information and the new leaks, we can make some pretty logical guesses about the actual shape of all this. Here's my take."

2 of 457 comments (clear)

  1. Re:More likely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Narus STA 6600 deep packet inspection gear

    It's called PRISM because that's what you use to split optical fibres.

    Passive man-in-the-middle attacks. Doesn't matter if they can't get access to contents due to encryption if they're analysing traffic patterns with ThinThread - which is exactly what they're doing.

    There are also specific trojans that have been deployed inside major companies without their knowledge (well, without their knowledge until now).

  2. Re:Guility motherfucker! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    To keep the wrong, abortion limiting, homosexual right denying, health care privatizing, global warming denying, Social Security gutting lizard out.