Overview#

Upstream Surveillance is a term used by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States for intercepting telephone and Internet data from the Internet backbone, i.e. major Internet cables and switches, both domestic and foreign.

Besides the Upstream Surveillance, NSA also gathers information from Internet communications through arrangements with Internet companies under the program code named PRISM. Both the Upstream Surveillance programs and PRISM are part of the Special Source Operations (SSO) division, which is responsible for collection in cooperation with corporate partners.

One of the slides of a presentation about the PRISM-program describes Upstream as "collection of communications on fiber cables and infrastructure as data flows past" and says the Upstream Surveillance is conducted under the following four major surveillance programs:

• FAIRVIEW
• BLARNEY
• STORMBREW
• OAKSTAR

Legal Implications #

Upstream Surveillance is justified by the United States federal government by Section 702 of the FISA to justify the collection of the communications of innocent people overseas and in the United States by tapping into the cables that carry domestic and international Internet communications through what's known as Upstream Surveillance. !! Category Government Surveillance!! More Information There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:

• Surveillance

---

• [#1] - Upstream_collection - based on information obtained 2017-06-11-