Tech Companies, Bristling, Concede to Federal Surveillance Program

Well, they're denying any "concessions," actually.

But see NYT, "Tech Companies Concede to Surveillance Program":

SAN FRANCISCO — When government officials came to Silicon Valley to demand easier ways for the world’s largest Internet companies to turn over user data as part of a secret surveillance program, the companies bristled. In the end, though, many cooperated at least a bit.

Twitter declined to make it easier for the government. But other companies were more compliant, according to people briefed on the negotiations. They opened discussions with national security officials about developing technical methods to more efficiently and securely share the personal data of foreign users in response to lawful government requests. And in some cases, they changed their computer systems to do so.

The negotiations shed a light on how Internet companies, increasingly at the center of people’s personal lives, interact with the spy agencies that look to their vast trove of information — e-mails, videos, online chats, photos and search queries — for intelligence. They illustrate how intricately the government and tech companies work together, and the depth of their behind-the-scenes transactions.

Two cheers for Twitter, jeez. At least somebody's standing up for consumer privacy.

More:

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.

Continue reading.

In any case, here's Mark Zuckerberg, "I want to respond personally to the outrageous press reports about PRISM..." And from Larry Page and David Drummond, at Google, "What the ...?"

Interesting. They're all crying about more "transparency." Right. Like they're transparent themselves in consumer data mining. You get what you give.

I'll have more on this...