The how, why and when of NSA surveillance programs
These Internet giants claim their roles have been misinterpreted after NSA data leaks.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama will unveil proposed reforms Friday of US covert surveillance programs run by the National Security Agency in response to leaks by fugitive ex-contractor Edward Snowden.
Here is a list of the main NSA programs at the heart of the controversy. Most aim to identify terror suspects.
Every American s call history details
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The major US telecommunications operators provide the NSA with call detail records -- so-called metadata -- for every call made in the United States. The information is similar to what can be found on a telephone bill: number dialed, length and time of the call. But it does not include the name of the subscriber and does not record phone calls.
The USA Patriot Act voted by Congress after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and especially its Section 215, provides the legal basis for the program. The law, which was renewed in 2006 and 2011, is set to expire in June 2015.
The NSA says this source of data is key to identify potential accomplices of terror suspects on US soil. In 2012, the database was searched 300 times by 22 authorized NSA analysts, according to the FBI and the office of the director of national intelligence.
PRISM
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Since 2007, the PRISM program allows the NSA to gather communications content -- including emails, pictures, video and other documents -- from users of the world s biggest Internet sites: Microsoft since 2007, Yahoo since 2008, Google, Facebook and PalTalk since 2009, YouTube since 2010, Skype and AOL since 2011 and Apple since 2012.
These Internet giants claim their roles have been misinterpreted, and they deny they have given the NSA special "backdoor" access to their servers. The exact degree of their technical cooperation remains a mystery.
The program is only used on people the NSA suspects -- with at least 51 percent confidence, according to documents leaked by Snowden -- are not US citizens. The US Constitution requires an individualized warrant to obtain the communications of US citizens and foreigners living in the United States.
The program s legal basis is rooted in Section 702 of the 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which were renewed in December 2012 and expires in December 2017.
PRISM allows the NSA to tap directly into the fiberoptic superhighways, storing not just call data but the very communications themselves.
NSA chief General Keith Alexander says about 50 terror attacks were thwarted around the world thanks to these initiatives, though critics strongly contest his claims.
The role of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
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Created in 1978 and overseen by 11 judges, FISC regularly and secretly approves NSA programs, which thus obtains the authority to store and use data without having to request warrants for each data search.
FISC also grants individual warrants to investigate a suspect in the United States and seize that person s communications.
