US News

Tech giants take on NSA over online snooping

It’s the super geeks vs. the government in the battle over online snooping.

Eight major US tech companies – including Apple, Google and Facebook – on Monday called for tougher controls of how governments collect people’s personal data, opening a new front in the fight for Internet security.

In a letter to President Obama and Congress, the companies said revelations showed the balance had tipped too far in many countries in favor of the state over the individual.

Last June, ex-National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden exposed top secret government surveillance programs that can tap into people’s personal information that is carried on cables linking data centers in different countries.

After Snowden spilled the beans, many big Internet companies warned that American businesses may lose business abroad as wary customers switched to other companies.

“We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens,” said the letter from the eight firms, which also included Microsoft Corp, Twitter, LinkedIn Corp, Yahoo Inc and AOL Inc.

“But this summer’s revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide,” it read.

“The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual – rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for a change.”

The companies have detailed their “Reform Government Surveillance” campaign on a Web site, calling on the US to take the lead by limiting how much user information the government can collect.

“People won’t use technology they don’t trust,” Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said. “Governments have put this trust at risk, and governments need to help restore it.”

The campaign also called on governments to limit surveillance to specific, known users and not to collect data in bulk, and asked that companies have the right to publish the number and nature of government demands for user information.

“The security of users’ data is critical, which is why we’ve invested so much in encryption and fight for transparency around government requests for information,” Google Chief Executive Larry Page said.
Obama last week said he intended to propose NSA reforms to reassure Americans that their privacy was not being violated by the agency.