Sources: US intelligence agencies tap servers of top Internet companies

By Andrea Mitchell and Jeff Black, NBC News

U.S. intelligence agencies have a direct tap into the servers of the U.S.'s largest Internet companies where agents can troll for suspicious activity, sources confirmed to NBC News on Thursday.

A government program is examining suspicious email and Internet traffic. According to The Washington Post, it allows the NSA and the FBI to tap directly into computer servers at some of the largest Internet service providers. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

The highly classified program, designed to look at international communications and run by the National Security Agency and the FBI, can peek at video, audio, photos, emails and other documents, including connection logs that let the government track people, according to the sources, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity.
Intelligence officials disputed reports that the program was engaged in "data mining" and instead described the activities as "data collection." It was unclear what the distinction is in practical terms.
The program, code-named PRISM, was first publicly exposed Thursday evening by The Washington Post and The Guardian.

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