The NSA's PRISM Program Is Shockingly Uncontroversial With The American Public

[FarCenter]

President Barack Obama's approval rating is sinking like a stone in a new CNN/ORC poll — but it's not because of Americans' reactions to the National Security Agency surveillance program known as "PRISM."

In fact, the public overwhelmingly approves of the program. The poll found that 66 percent of Americans say the Obama administration was right to gather and analyze information from major internet companies to help locate suspected terrorists.

...

Self-identified Republicans and Democrats approve of both programs, while Independents are much less enthusiastic. They disapprove of the NSA's phone surveillance program by a 40-58 split, and their approval of PRISM (58-41) significantly trails both Republicans (67-31) and Democrats (76-24)

http://www.businessinsider.com/prism-surveillance-poll-nsa-obama-approval-2013-6

[fredamae]

1. Polls Are Only As Reliable

as the person who paid for them is honest.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. This question was posed in the past tense. 'were they right or wrong to do this' not 'are they'

and the actual question 'do you approve of this as continued policy' is simply not asked. It could be. It just isn't.

[fredamae]

9. Exactly

When the ques don't actually reflect a person's thoughts--it isn't honest and reliable when the One thing they could have asked........isn't---then it skews the results and "they" know that.

[uponit7771]

2. Greenwalds and Snowden told American NOTHING NEW! The Big story is in the contractors

....and the lack of oversight related to them

[Thinkingabout]

7. I think you may be on to something here. Maybe when security clearances are given in the future

one of the articles they should be looking for is "causes" of similar nature to Snowden's backers cause. We don't need these people to have security clearance to our nation security.

[FarCenter]

8. NSA needs to collect and analyse a lot more metadata about staff with security clearances

What they access at work. What they access outside of work. etc.

And security compartments and access need to be narrowed, with more rigor to permissions to cross compartments and layers of security.

DoD has too much of an "us versus them" mentality, and hence places too much trust in the "us".

[uponit7771]

11. +1

[Thinkingabout]

12. I agree with you, security clearance is very important.

[Lifelong Protester]

4. So tie this to the "congressional oversight"

with Congress's approval at single digits, and something does not 'add up'.

Congressional "oversight" is what is supposed to make us all trust this as a great program. Really?

[Hatchling]

5. It's because we have been conditioned for years that this is ok.

There are popular shows that emphasize how the good guys use this awesome technology to catch the bad guys. Rarely do they ever discuss the mechanics of getting a search warrant, unless it's to further heighten the drama. I.e, someone won't let them use it and it makes it harder to catch the bad guys. The shows routinely show cops, etc. using gps to locate a criminal.

There are regularly episodes where the good guys abuse the system because it is too restrictive and guess what? They catch the bad guy and get away with it. Not to mention the episodes where brutality toward criminals is justified in order to foil evil plots such as in 24.

But it's all ok, because the heroes are such trust worthy, likable, quirky individuals who are just trying to do their best to help us.

A few examples:

A Person of Interest
NCIS
NCIS Los Angeles.
24

I'm sure there are others. These are just the few I have enjoyed watching. In watching reruns of some of these in light of the recent revelations, they turned my stomach.

In a burst of CT, I do wonder if these shows (especially Person of Interest) are merely coincidence. I doubt it.

[Puzzledtraveller]

6. We are addicted to information

Not to be confused with knowledge. The only thing that will get the American publics attention is taking their drug away. The internet.

As long as we have this endless supply of information we will not care what we give up in exchange.

[Puzzledtraveller]

10. Apathy is the paradise in which the ignorant reside.