World leaders have called for their people to ditch American tech. Some of the biggest internet companies on Monday, September 9, 2013, increased their efforts to disclose more about their forced cooperation with U.S. spy agencies. Last month, the intelligence community and the big internet companies (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Facebook) had failed to come to an agreement that allowed the tech companies to publish the details on how many requests FISA court orders they get and how many of their users this impacts. Now, the various companies made it clear that the fight would continue in court.
Google, Facebook and other some others met with a panel established by the White House to review the sweeping domestic surveillance exposed by Edward Snowden, a former contractor at the National Security Agency (NSA). U.S. and British intelligence agencies have successfully cracked much of the online encryption relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their online transactions, personal data and emails, according to documents revealed by Snowden.
Google asked the court that approves spying requests for a public hearing on their quest to reveal how many orders the company complies with. Facebook and Yahoo! made their own first filings on Monday seeking the ability to disclose more about the orders following Google and Microsoft filings in June.
Google complains that its reputation and business have been damaged by what it says were misleading reports that the NSA had "direct access" to its internal servers. The companies have denied those reports, and most now publish summaries that give the number of all the government requests they receive.
Most lump together foreign intelligence demands with routine criminal inquiries, though Google says it receives fewer than 1,000 National Security Letters per year, affecting fewer than 2,000 accounts.
The companies want to say more, and Google argues that its First Amendment right to speak out, especially on a matter of great political and public importance, outweighs any harm to intelligence efforts that would come from releasing more detailed but still aggregate statistics.
The Loses of Security
Tech companies are slated to lose billions as a result of the NSA leaks. BlackBerry denies it built back doors into software, but the other companies have remained silent.
That's unfortunate, because recent reporting indicates that the companies participate in at least some collusion with the feds.
Because strong encryption can be so effective, classified NSA documents make clear, the agency’s success depends on working with internet companies by getting their voluntary collaboration, forcing their cooperation with court orders or surreptitiously stealing their encryption keys or altering their software or hardware.
Apple's iOS and Android, both of which dominate international markets, have been implicated in report, which says that feds have access to "contact lists, SMS traffic, notes and location information."
Microsoft said it had "significant concerns" about reports that the NSA and its British counterpart, GCHQ, had succeeded in cracking most of the codes that protect the privacy of internet users. Yahoo! said it feared "substantial potential for abuse".
Google said it was not aware of any covert attempts to compromise its systems. However, according to a report, the company said that it had accelerated the encryption of information in its data centers in a bid to prevent snooping by the NSA and the intelligence agencies of other governments.
President Barack Obama met with the new group on August 27, 2013. On Monday, it met with the big technology companies and separately met with privacy and civil liberties groups. Someone briefed on the first meeting said the companies were united in seeking more transparency and that they found the session "constructive."
Tensions between tech companies and U.S. authorities have been escalating. For all, its about power, money and trusts they lost from customers that these tech companies voices their words in statements about what they give and receive.
The latest revelations come as experts warn the private sector is becoming increasingly distrustful of the NSA and its allies.