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Tech Giants Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook Back Law to Clip NSA wings

AT THE HEART OF IT…In this undated photo made available by Google, Denise Harwood checks an overheated computer processor at Google’s data center in The Dalles, Ore. Google uses these data centers to store email, photos, video, calendar entries and other information shared by its users. –AP Photo/Google

GOOGLE INSISTS IT DID NOT SHARE USERS DATA WITH ANY GOVERNMENT

Caravan Report

DUBAI, Nov 1: Big Brother may have finally swollen more than he could chew.  Alarmed by the revelation of the massive secretive internet surveillance program of the US National Security Agency, six American technology giants — Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple, AOL and Facebook — have come together to call for adequate legislation to clip the NSA wings.
In a letter to Senators, these technology giants backed the legislation authored by thee lawmakers to end NSA’s bulk collection of phone records, reported PTI.

“We applaud the sponsors of the USA Freedom Act for making an important contribution to this discussion. Recent disclosures regarding surveillance activity raise important concerns both in the United States and abroad,” the letter said, adding that the volume and complexity of the information that has been disclosed in recent months has created significant confusion here and around the world, making it more difficult to identify appropriate policy prescriptions.

“Our companies have consistently made clear that we only respond to legal demands for customer and user information that are targeted and specific,” the letter said.

“Allowing companies to be transparent about the number and nature of requests will help the public better understand the facts about the government’s authority to compel technology companies to disclose user data and how technology companies respond to the targeted legal demands we receive,” the companies said.

“Transparency in this regard will also help to counter erroneous reports that we permit intelligence agencies direct access to our companies’ servers or that we are participants in a bulk internet records collection program,” they said.

Noting that transparency is a critical first step to an informed public debate, but it is clear that more needs to be done, they said that they believe that government surveillance practices should also be reformed to include substantial enhancements to privacy protections and appropriate oversight and accountability mechanisms for those programs.

Meanwhile Google’s Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora told India’s NDTV that Google has been caught unawares on NSA snooping claiming that the tech giant known for its search engine and email services did not share any data with any government.  Arora said that Google understands the concerns of users and is on their side on the issue.
The USA Freedom Act was introduced this week by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and Representative Jim Sensenbrenner. This legislation includes important provisions to increase transparency, allow companies to report more statistical information about the number of demands they receive, and reforms the FISA court.

The Washington Post said the tone of industry reaction to the NSA revelations has grown more aggressive since the first stories appeared in some of the dailies including it.

“The NSA has finally done something so egregious that the US Internet industry can do nothing but respond with demands for reform of the law to protect their systems and their users,” Kevin Bankston, from the New America Foundation, was quoted as saying by Politico.

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