PRISM

PRISM is the NSA program, revealed by Edward Snowden in June 2013, for collecting internet communications from major US technology companies under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. The leaked slides listed nine participating providers, beginning with Microsoft in 2007, followed by Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Apple, and others. PRISM enabled downstream collection of emails, chats, stored files, and video calls directly from company servers, with compelled cooperation and gag orders shielding the arrangement from users. Subsequent FISA Court opinions, declassified under public pressure, documented repeated compliance violations and unlawful collection of wholly domestic communications. Files tagged PRISM trace the program’s legal architecture, corporate participation, and its aftermath in surveillance law.