No Rights for 100% Privacy & 100% Security in USA

PRISM allows the NSA and FBI to tap "directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, emails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track foreign targets." This data mining allows content acquisition of various information sources called "Metadata". This is then aggregated into a composite that characterizes general patterns of behavior for individuals which will indicate whether their activities are deemed violations under the Patriot Act subject to secretive surveillance.

PRISM was legally authorized in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA Act. Unlike the warrantless surveillance programs under George W. Bush, which preceded PRISM, this program is under the purview of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, FISC. "PRISM works with another NSA program to encrypt and remove from the analysts' screen data that a computer or the analyst deems to be from a U.S. person who is not the subject of the investigation." If an analyst wants to keep on monitoring or analyzing the flagged data stream, a FISC court has to sign off.

National Intelligence Director James Clapper says the program is covered, specifically, by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, then notes, pointedly that "activities authorized by Section 702 are subject to oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the executive branch, and Congress." What's more, he says, that statute was "recently reauthorized by Congress after extensive hearings and debate."

NOTE: The potential for devestating abuse of power by the Federal Government is great since the "special" FISC court system gives absolute discretion to the Attorney General for obtaining information with or without a warrant from a judge - it's a one-man pony show under the executive branch of government. 

A "Surveillance Warrant" called a "FISA Warrant" is made before an individual judge of the FISC court. Like a grand jury, the FISC is not an adversarial court: the federal government is the only party to its proceedings. The court may or may not allow third parties to submit briefs.  If the Attorney General determines that an emergency exists, he alone may authorize electronic surveillance.  This can be before obtaining the necessary authorization from the FISA court for any employment of electronic surveillance.

Anthony Romero of the American Civil Liberties Union isn't impressed. "A pox on all the three houses of government," he tells The New York Times. "On Congress, for legislating such powers, on the FISA court for being such a paper tiger and rubber stamp, and on the Obama administration for not being true to its values."

In a June 7, 2013 a press conference, President Obama said our telephones were not being followed, but  failed to mention emails and Internet activities too.  Obama asked to believe him and the Federal government agencies to follow the Patriot Act guidelines while protecting our first amendment rights.

There is NO WAY that U.S. citizens know whether their personal data is being harvested! - Bad may be Good or Good may be Bad?

Shh!  ...Just Trust me!