As I understand it (so take it with a grain of salt) PRISM mandates that targeted companies collect and turn over data that matches a set of (&quot;court-approved&quot;) guidelines without prompting[1].<p>This as opposed to the government finding probable cause, getting a warrant, and asking the company for the data (if they have it).  Instead, the onus is placed on the company to comply with the guidelines set forth without first being asked.<p>It is unclear to me whether or not companies had to start collecting&#x2F;reporting data they were otherwise discarding before, but this quote sounds like they are&#x2F;were:<p>&gt; &quot;The NSA can use these PRISM requests to target communications that were encrypted when they traveled across the internet backbone, to focus on stored data that telecommunication filtering systems discarded earlier,[8][9] and to get data that is easier to handle, among other things.[10]&quot;<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;PRISM_(surveillance_program)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;PRISM_(surveillance_program)</a>