Before, the U.S used Prism, a program able to monitor your activity on the Internet. Now, they  create : XKeyscore. Revealed by The Guardian, the existence of this program, implemented by the NSA, is more efficient and allows the U.S. government to monitor the Internet.

XKeyscore allows its users to perform real-time monitoring of emails, research, social networks and every action on the Internet. This program is based on 500 servers which are located in China, Russia, Venezuela. But the real  innovation of this program is the ability to work without an identifier of the target. Usually, it is necessary to have the email address or the I.P address of the target, but with Xkeyscore it’s possible to work all the way up from a web search, for example.
It is a large-scale data collection: The NSA keeps the information only three or five days, more if the collected informations seems important. This program highlights the difficulties of processing and storage of what are called “big data”.
Agents could intercept communications on the Internet, like VoIP streams, chat logs, emails of anybody without prior authorization. This is what made discussions. What about privacy ?
According to the U.S., the software has allowed U.S. agents to capture « more than 300 terrorists ».
Also published on Margaux Groine’s Blog