Quote:
Originally Posted by Clodfobble
I thought we were still only talking about phone data. Content of emails and attachments is a whole different ballgame.
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Phone calls are digital just like emails. The concept is metadata verses an actual (data) content.
For example, when you file taxes, metadata says you filed forms. Numbers in each row of each form (that is owned by a company that submits your data to the IRS) are actual data.
Protection means Verizon, Qwest, etc cannot submit that data to PRISM without a court order. Currently, long distance transmission lines can be tapped and recorded at any time by PRISM. In theory, they cannot listen or read it without a court order. But nobody (Verizon, Qwest, the court) knows whether that data is being reviewed.
"Trust us" was a concept advocated by Cheney, John Yoo, et al. And remains a defacto standard.