US accused of harvesting data from Facebook, Google and others
The US has been accused of authorising the National Security Agency to directly access the servers of internet giants such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft in order to harvest information from emails, images and social media – according to secret documents obtained by the guardian and Washington Post.
The operation, known as PRISM, was highly classified but granted the NSA free rein to access technology firms networks at any time, giving the agency access to the time, location and content of messages.
Nine firms are said to be willing accomplices in the scheme; including Yahoo! PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, AOL and Apple, which is primarily geared toward foreign and terror intelligence gathering but also catches home grown users.
Recent disclosures revealed that America has also been tracking phone calls for the last seven years, sparking accusations that civil liberties are being eroded.
James Clapper, the most senior US intelligence official, said in a statement that PRISM "does not allow the targeting of any US citizen or of any person located within the United States".
"Information collected under this programme is among the most important and valuable intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a variety of threats."