Are Google, Facebook lying about the spying?

[ErikJ]

Are Google, Facebook lying about the spying?
Federal gag order keeps Internet giants from saying much
MW 6/14/13

“I only care when they are subpoenaed under oath,” Ray Wang, chief executive of Constellation Research, a technology research organization, tweeted Thursday. “For now, all lies.” . “But if they are legally obliged to deny receiving the requests, what then? Take the 5th?” another Twitter user posted in reply.

That exchange underscored the dilemma faced by Google and Facebook in the unfolding scandal caused by the revelation of the clandestine data-gathering program called PRISM run by the National Security Agency. Given their dominant positions on the Web and in social media, much attention has been focused on the two Silicon Valley powerhouses.

They’ve led other Internet companies, including Yahoo and Microsoft , in rejecting allegations that they’ve worked directly with the NSA in the systematic and secret mining of user information.

But their public-relations blitz has yet to put doubt to rest. That’s because of a legal bind the companies face: Federal law may bar them from disclosing information about what data the government has compelled them to disclose.
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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/are-google-facebook-lying-about-the-spying-2013-06-14

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[Egalitarian Thug]

2. Are their lips moving? n/t

[WovenGems]

3. Matters Not!

If you are up to no good. Then you need to keep it low. Do your research at the library. And for Gods sake don't check the books out. If you need to converse with an associate don't use an electronics to do so. Competent bad guys know this. Our NSA system is designed to make investigating losers easier.

[Catherina]

4. Is Microsoft? Did Microsoft make a deal with the DOJ in 1998?

Notice how Google's lawyer's are carefully choosing their words to boil it down to how many FOIA requests they got. That's not the question. The question is tells us more about the access to your servers and what you know about that.

Facebook is protesting in outrage. Facebook, the company that sells our information to third parties asking us to trust them lol.

I think I'll go with Julian Assange on this one.

Assange: Facebook is an 'appalling spy machine'

Julian Assange, the head of WikiLeaks, also takes aim at Google and Yahoo in interview with a Russian news site, saying that they have "built-in interfaces for U.S. intelligence."

by Don Reisinger
May 3, 2011

...

"Facebook in particular is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented," Assange said in the interview, which was videotaped and published on the site. "Here we have the world's most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations and the communications with each other, their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to U.S. intelligence."

...

But Assange didn't just stop at Facebook. He also told RT that in addition to the world's largest social network, Google and Yahoo "have built-in interfaces for U.S. intelligence."

"It's not a matter of serving a subpoena," he told RT. "They have an interface that they have developed for U.S. intelligence to use."

...

"Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook, they are doing free work for United States intelligence agencies in building this database for them," Assange said, according to the RT interview.

...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20059247-17.html

it starts at minute 1:40

[forestpath]

5. Like a rug.

[Hydra]

6. The better question is, can they NOT lie about it?

Earlier today I read about how Yahoo sent their lawyers to the FISA court and argued that the warrants were too broad and they felt like they were violating the law by letting them trawl through their systems.

The court told them it wasn't an issue, they would comply, and they would not tell anyone.

Where does that leave them? We know various companies like AT&T offered full access for favors, but apparently google and others don't like this, but they do it or be banned from US business.

I'd rather talk to the people tying the hands in this case- the NSA, CIA and Executive Branch.