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Comment by andrewljohnson | Hacker News Reader

That's an unnecessary conspiracy theory. The companies all say that they comply with all legal orders, and secret FISA orders are legal. These slides all seem in line with what the CEOs and reps have said.

No one is denying PRISM exists, it just needs to be abolished, and all things like it should be subject to public scrutiny. Obviously it's not ineffective when it's not a secret, so there is no reason for secrecy.

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> The companies all say that they comply with all legal orders, and secret FISA orders are legal. These slides all seem in line with what the CEOs and reps have said.

That's not true, the slides describe a system that receives a raw data flow and decodes it. Google and Facebook have both explicitly denied giving access or even receiving a request for blanket or bulk access. They both say the have only received requests for specific individuals, and every request is individually reviewed by their legal team.

Oh, well if the companies denied complying with an order they're not allowed to even disclose the existence of, under penalty of treason, then that's the God's honest truth. Case closed.

There's nothing to see here, people. The participating companies are not actually participating at all, and a damage control press release is absolute, unquestionable confirmation of this fact. Nothing is more truthful than a press release.

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