The Daily Mail:
- Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page both issued blustery statements over recent media reports they gave the National Security Agency officials access to their troves of user information
- Now sources say both tech giants were in discussion about specific ways to give U.S. officials access to their data using virtual classified information reading rooms
- Companies are all compelled by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to hand over any information requested under the law, but they’re not required to make access easier
- PRISM data-mining program was launched in 2007 with approval from special federal judges
- Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Skype, AOL and PalTalk are involved in spying program
- The UK has had access to the PRISM data since at least 2010
- Details of data collection were outlined in classified 41-slide PowerPoint presentation that was leaked by intelligence officerÂ
Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Larry Page of Google both strongly denied giving unfettered access to user data to U.S. officials, but it turns out both companies have, in fact, cooperated with governments requests.
Zuckerberg denied his company’s link to secret government data-sharing scheme PRISM on Friday in a blustery posted message that described allegations that Facebook gave ‘US or any other government direct access to our servers’ as ‘outrageous.’
Now, sources tell the New York Times that both Facebook and Google discussed plans to create secure portals for the government ‘like a digital version of the secure physical rooms that have long existed for classified information’ with U.S. officials.
In his post, Zuckerberg said he had not even heard of PRISM until reports broke on Thursday and vowed to fight ‘aggressively to keep [users’] information safe and secure.’
Google CEO Larry Page did likewise.
‘We have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government—or any other government—direct access to our servers,’ he said in a statement that resembled deeply the one issued by Zuckerberg. ‘We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday.’
The search engine’s chief lawyer David Drummond also said that media reports linking Google to PRISM were false.
‘When governments ask Facebook for data,’ wrote Zuckerberg, 29, ‘we review each request carefully to make sure they always follow the correct processes and all applicable laws, and then only provide the information if is required by law.
Zuckerberg’s post has been ‘liked’ over 300,000 times.
Companies are legally required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to hand over whatever information the government asks for under the law.
But, as the New York Times reports, they are not required to make it easier for the government to get that information. This, however, appears to be what they’ve planned to do.
Meanwhile, Twitter is one company which has managed to keep mum in PRISM discussions.
A spokesperson for Apple also denied any knowledge of PRISM’s existence.
It was claimed that the Silicon Valley companies involved in the PRISM program are Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Skype, AOL and the lesser known Internet company PalTalk, which has hosted a lot of traffic during the Arab Spring and the on-going Syrian civil war.
However, only Facebook and Google have been shown to have worked toward creating ‘online rooms’ in which to share data with the government, according to the New York Times report.
