Subsequent documents have demonstrated a financial arrangement between the NSA's Special Source Operations (SSO) division and PRISM partners in the millions of dollars. The disclosures were published by The Guardian and The Washington Post on June 6, 2013. Its existence was leaked six years later by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who warned that the extent of mass data collection was far greater than the public knew and included what he characterized as 'dangerous' and 'criminal' activities.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court, or FISC) pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The program is operated under the supervision of the U.S.

PRISM began in 2007 in the wake of the passage of the Protect America Act under the Bush Administration. Among other things, 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. 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 program is also known by the SIGAD US-984XN. PRISM is a code name for a program under which the United States National Security Agency (NSA) collects internet communications from various U.S.

Prism 5 software