Question

In 2013 Edward Snowden began leaking information about a National Security Agency's operation, code-named ________, in which the agency had been secretly gathering information on ordinary Americans by infiltrating their social media accounts.

Answer 1

Answer:

PRISM (surveillance operation)

Explanation:

PRISM is a code name for a program under which the United States National Security Agency (NSA) collects internet communications from various U.S. internet companies. The program is also known as the SIGAD US-984XN. PRISM collects stored internet communications based on demands made to internet companies such as Google LLC under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to turn over any data that match court-approved search terms. The NSA can use these PRISM requests to target communications that were encrypted when they traveled across the internet backbone, to focus on stored data that telecommunication filtering systems discarded earlier, and to get data that is easier to handle, among other things.