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Google, Apple and Facebook Outright Deny They’re Helping the NSA Mine Data
- ghshephard 13y ago"Said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling in a statement today, “We have never heard of PRISM. We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order.”"
- wl 13y agoThe existence of this program is classified top secret. I doubt a spokesperson has the security clearance to even know about the program. Even if he did have such a clearance, it would be illegal for him to disclose any information about the program.
- eli 13y agoI'm not sure that's as strong a denial as it first appears. There article alleges there was a court order for the request. Here's a copy of the document Verizon allegedly received: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/06/verizon-telephone-data-court-order http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/06/veri...
- elathan 13y agoI don't now if the graph is real (http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/audio/video/2013/6/6/1370553948414/Prism-001.jpg http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/audio/video...), but Microsoft bought Skype in 2011. :)
- lotu 13y agoBut Google bought Youtbe in 2006. What's the delay?
- Someone 13y agoFor YouTube? The 'tone' of YouTube comments is different from that of, say, web sites or regular emails, so one could guess that their software to parse the comments and get real information from them wasn't good enough to be worth it before.
- jamesaguilar 13y agoI am beginning to wonder if this might be a hoax. Could this have really gone for years without leaking from any of these companies? Engineers tend to be pretty freedom-minded . . . and the slides . . . they don't look real. I guess we'll see soon enough. (Edit: I am speaking only about PRISM. The phone record thing seems pretty cut and dry.)
- sneak 13y agoThese sorts of orders are all gag-ordered by default. They have to lie to everyone about their existence, including co-workers and spouses, or they go immediately to jail. It's a matter of individual criminal liability. Stop thinking of a corporation as a single entity for a second.
- dm2 13y agoSo is this the real issue? Should there be an investigation on whether or not it's acceptable to issue gag-orders so leniently?
- spiritplumber 13y agoI can understand "no comment" but can a government order me to lie unless I am in its direct employ?
- adventured 13y agoYes. They coerce agreement from the company you work for, that is covered by national security laws. They can arrest you for almost anything under the banner of national security. That's not an exaggeration. Now, you might get off eventually, but they can royally destroy your life with a flick of their power.
- sneak 13y agoThis is a memo sent to Verizon employees today from Verizon's general counsel. Please note bullet point #2. http://publicpolicy.verizon.com/blog/entry/from-the-desk-of-randy-milch http://publicpolicy.verizon.com/blog/entry/from-the-desk-of-...
- andyl 13y agoAdmit to colluding with NSA is illegal - you could go to jail for revealing the truth.