8 Large Tech companies to U.S.: Reform surveillance practices!

AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo on Monday jointly wrote a letter to President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress.

"The security of users' data is critical...This is undermined by the apparent wholesale collection of data, in secret and without independent oversight, by many governments around the world," Google CEO Larry Page said in a statement.

www.calgarysun.com...

Is this just a ploy to look good for users of these big 8 to say they are atleast doing something?

I mean, if all there data is going through large USB hubs then NSA has the information regardless if they "call for request".

Soon the entire Nation is going to demand this paranoia end.

This is the one issue they cannot divide us on.

Nobody likes to be spied on....Not even Congress.

reply to post by CALGARIAN


Don't be so sure. I know Google has started donating to Right Wing groups such as ALEC that are throwing huge support behind the TPP which will in turn destroy the internet as we know it. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the other companies you mentioned do as well.

whyamIhere
Soon the entire Nation is going to demand this paranoia end.

This is the one issue they cannot divide us on.

Nobody likes to be spied on....Not even Congress.

I think that's where the NSA screwed up too. They forgot who US and THEM were and blurred the lines.

I'll bet if Congress could have called themselves "US", along side the NSA spooks? They'd have had FAR less problems. It's the fact Congress realized they too have become "THEM" to some within the same Government that they're actually pissed enough to DO something. Just like the 70's.

Now where is the Man among the mice to stand and force the issue in Congress? I hear lots of angry squeaking but I don't see a man among them.

Kali74
reply to post by CALGARIAN

 

Don't be so sure. I know Google has started donating to Right Wing groups such as ALEC that are throwing huge support behind the TPP which will in turn destroy the internet as we know it. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the other companies you mentioned do as well.

I'd have to disagree with you, if you'd suggest this is in any form a partisan matter. Bush was a control freak that made Ross Perot look a little weak in the area..and that's saying A LOT. Obama....went further. It doesn't make him worse, because he couldn't have gone anywhere without the roadbed to lay his paved path down on. However...he could have declined to finish the road to ...Hades. He didn't.

One gave us the Un-Patriot Act and made it all possible. The other gave us things like the NDAA and his own people like Biden lovingly longing for the day they have a big red "Off" button for the whole U.S. net structure. He's said so, outright as I recall....Biden and Lieberman have seemed to be personally offended that they cannot control the net directly.

So, I don't blame the left...I don't cherish the right. In this particular swamp? I sense a circular pattern that keeps the crap running in circles forever ....with us dead center, to endure it.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


There seems to be a lack of courage in our elected officials.

Why can't they stand up to the people they fund?

They all dirty? Or just so intimidated by the monster they created?

I will not vote for a single coward in office right now.

Where are the Men?

reply to post by CALGARIAN


AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo are some of the worst offenders when it comes to data collection. IMHO they worked hand-in-hand with these so-called democratic governments no questions asked. There's a reason why I do not sign into my gmail account on my android phone at all, for any reason.

It's a hoax.

The domain, www.reformgovernmentsurveillance.com..., shows private registration through GoDaddy, and it's also hosted on GoDaddy servers.

The page is gone, and replaced by a default Parallels Plesk page.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Partisan? I dunno, it's murky is what it is as ALEC has a few elected dems on board if not overtly. Over-all though it is a dominantly right wing group. As far as companies and politicians and the fascist monstrosity they are making of our country? No definitely not partisan.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


lol

reply to post by CALGARIAN


ofcourse its a load or PR bull crap, they have to follow the laws so when the tame monkey judges at the NSA sign something they have to obey or face major trouble so all we get is a bit of posturing for PR while the spooks make better tools to capture more data faster after all you don't spend billions on a nice new data center to have it sat idle

reply to post by CALGARIAN

I'm not buying it. This is just companies trying to save face.

The companies that negotiated with the government include Google, which owns YouTube; Microsoft, which owns Hotmail and Skype; Yahoo; Facebook; AOL; Apple; and Paltalk, according to one of the people briefed on the discussions. The companies were legally required to share the data under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. People briefed on the discussions spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are prohibited by law from discussing the content of FISA requests or even acknowledging their existence.

In at least two cases, at Google and Facebook, one of the plans discussed was to build separate, secure portals, like a digital version of the secure physical rooms that have long existed for classified information, in some instances on company servers. Through these online rooms, the government would request data, companies would deposit it and the government would retrieve it, people briefed on the discussions said.

source - NY Times

• Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;

• The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;

• The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide;

• Microsoft also worked with the FBI's Data Intercept Unit to "understand" potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases;

• In July last year, nine months after Microsoft bought Skype, the NSA boasted that a new capability had tripled the amount of Skype video calls being collected through Prism;

• Material collected through Prism is routinely shared with the FBI and CIA, with one NSA document describing the program as a "team sport".

source - The Guardian

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), the world’s largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes.

source - Bloomberg

In 2005, when Microsoft was about to launch BitLocker, its Windows software to encrypt and lock hard drives, the company approached the NSA, its British counterpart the GCHQ and the FBI, among other government and law-enforcement agencies. Microsoft's goal was twofold: get feedback from the agencies, and sell BitLocker to them.

source

So no, I'm not buying it at all.

It's a hoax as already discussed. Too bad really. As he mentions we really need this to end.

whyamIhere
Soon the entire Nation is going to demand this paranoia end.

This is the one issue they cannot divide us on.

Nobody likes to be spied on....Not even Congress.

(well said)

Unfortunately you'll see the news churned out as something that's really happening. Disinfo working to distract the people.