The Prism Scandal

The Spying PRISM

The electronic surveillance data mining program operated by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) is called PRISM. The National Security Agency’s desire to address the agency’s need to keep up with the immense growth of the social media gave birth to PRISM. The growth of government surveillance began under the Bush administration after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and since then has expanded under the Obama administration.

The revelation of the existence of Prism in the US by the former NSA computer specialist Edward Snowden created a stir the world. He reveled that the government is collecting data of all Verizon customers’ phone records in the US and overseas too. It has also been found that the federal government has been collecting information on foreigners overseas since six years from nation’s largest internet companies like Google, Facebook and Apple, in search of any national threats.

On June 19, 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama, during a visit to Germany, confirmed that the NSA's data gathering practices constitute "a circumscribed, narrow system directed at us being able to protect our people”. “We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information - not just in the United States, but in some cases threats here in Germany," he added.

The Prism scandal has dissolved any trust business partners could have in the privacy of US-based companies. According to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the US could end up losing out a lot of dollars in the cloud-based computer businesses.

European government is now demanding the private investigation of the spying program PRISM and the extent of the surveillance effect on the world. US have confirmed that it has filed a criminal case on Edward Snowden who has admitted giving away classified information.