To Silicon Valley, Prism Doesn't Square

If you’re going to create an Internet super spy system, you might as well give it an intimidating name. A number of years ago, we had Total Information Awareness; now we get Prism. Stay tuned for the Eye of Sauron, arriving in 2016 with extra HTML 7 spook awesomeness.

In this case, the Prism name does seem apt. We don’t know for sure how the government’s technology works, but security experts have long explained that hardcore Internet snooping begins at the fiber lines hitting the U.S. shores. Basically, the overseas Web traffic arrives and then a beam splitter—aka a prism—cleaves off data packets for the National Security Agency’s perusal. There are specialized computing appliances that can sift through the packets, and companies such as Cisco make networking equipment that provides the government with the ability to “lawfully intercept” data.