"Direct access" is the specific accusation that has been leveled at them. For example, the Guardian is using the headline "NSA has direct access to tech giants' systems for user data, secret files reveal" on their front page, and the phrase "direct access" is used three times in their story. [1]

I think that everybody assumes that they already comply with court orders for information from individual accounts. The direct access is what is new and shocking.

[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-n...

It is interesting is that Facebook, Apple, and Yahoo used the term "direct access".

But what is more interesting is that Microsoft claims "If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it".

Does it mean that participation is not required as in a more sophisticated 641?

Seeing the same phrase pop up over and over is a bit unnerving.