September 12, 2014
Mariah Timms
News Writer
National News
The U.S. government pressured media company Yahoo into complying with PRISM demands, newly unsealed court documents reveal. Yahoo appealed governmental requests to obtain the content of emails, mostly those sent to or from foreign nationals, before obtaining a search warrant. The company attempted an unsuccessful secret legal campaign in 2008 against the demands, feeling them unconstitutional. A lower court ruled that there were enough safeguards in the government plan to allow it to proceed in the defense of national security. Yahoo appealed the decision, but the government threatened to levy a $250,000 daily fine until the company agreed to begin turning over data. Information about PRISM, first revealed to the public in the controversial release of information by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, has caused a backlash in public opinion. Yahoo came under storm for capitulating when the information was released in 2013, but these documents reveal that the case was classified secret, and the company could not have defended itself until the declassification.
