What is PRISM Program? Here is All You Need to Know About It

Nwachukwu Glory  - Tech Expert
Last updated: February 19, 2024
Read time: 15 minutes
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The post explains the PRISM program in detail to you alongside providing you with some practical ways to escape this mighty spying.

THE TAKEAWAYS

PRISM – initially a top-secret but now a reported fact, is a program of the National Security Agency (NSA) through which it gets direct access to tech companies’ servers. This way, the agency receives users’ information, including emails, SMS, videos, chat messages, browsing history, and other sensitive data. Most high-tech companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and Apple are bound to give access via PRISM. Its official purpose was to facilitate the surveillance and protection of US citizens. However, it threatens the users’ privacy policy globally. Let’s dig out more about the PRISM program in this guide.

Separating truth from the myths about the Prism Program

The PRISM program aims to gain direct access to user communication. The information includes email communication, voice calls, SMS, social media communications, metadata, video calls, search preferences, etc. The constitution governs this unlimited access to information by the NSA through the PRISM program.

Section 702 of the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Acts), which became law in 2008, allows the Prism Program to access Tech Companies’ servers directly. Since then, the United States government has drastically increased intelligent bodies’ ability to gain local and foreign information.

The intelligent bodies can investigate the retrieved information targeting terrorists, criminals, and even those not suspected of anything. Formerly, the NSA could not obtain information from people outside of the USA.

However, that has changed with the formation of the PRISM program. It does not matter what you do, where you live, or whether you commit a crime; the NSA can access your personal information.

Why was PRISM created?