The National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigations are mining data from nine US internet servers in order to extract emails, video, and pictures of users according to a report released by the Washington Post Thursday night.
The secret government program, code-named PRISM, was established in 2007 and taps into American infrastructure to pull data that is used in intelligence briefs, including the President's Daily Brief.
Companies whose servers are targeted for tapping are legally obliged to open their files to the government in order to obtain immunity from lawsuits.
According to the Washington Post report a career intelligence officer was compelled to release a classified that shows the tapping practices "in order to expose what he believes to be a gross intrusion on privacy."
"They quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type," the officer told the Washington Post.