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struggle4progress

(118,039 posts)
Sat Jun 8, 2013, 11:38 AM Jun 2013

Tech Giants Deny Granting NSA 'Direct Access' To Servers

by Scott Neuman
June 08, 2013 9:19 AM

... Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL, Apple and Paltalk all negotiated with the government under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to provide the National Security Agency with user data as part of a program code-named PRISM, the Times reports, quoting people familiar with the discussions. Google owns Youtube, while Microsoft owns Hotmail and Skype ...

"The U.S. government does not have direct access or a 'back door' to the information stored in our data centers," Google's chief executive, Larry Page, and its chief legal officer, David Drummond, said in co-written by the company's chief legal officer, David Drummond. "We provide user data to governments only in accordance with the law" ...

Zuckerberg called the media accounts about Facebook's involvement "outrageous."

Twitter, meanwhile, has said it did not respond to government requests to peer into its databases. Users "have a right to fight invalid government requests, and we stand with them in that fight," the company was quoted by the Times as saying ...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/08/189781190/tech-giants-deny-granting-nsa-direct-access-to-servers

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Tech Giants Deny Granting NSA 'Direct Access' To Servers (Original Post) struggle4progress Jun 2013 OP
Sorry to burst your feel-good bubble: leveymg Jun 2013 #1
Too many qualifiers in their denials for my taste. They probably are not legally allowed to GoneFishin Jun 2013 #2

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
1. Sorry to burst your feel-good bubble:
Sat Jun 8, 2013, 11:45 AM
Jun 2013

The companies claims that there is "no direct server access" is just double-talk.

REPORT: Big Tech Working With Government On Special, Secure Servers Just For Sharing Info [View all]
http://www.businessinsider.com/prism-facebook-and-google-secure-servers-just-for-sharing-with-the-government-2013-6



***SNIP

According to Miller, the government does not have direct access, but through negotiations, companies have agreed to set up more efficient systems for sharing data with the government.

Here's the key bit:

...instead of adding a back door to their servers, the companies were essentially asked to erect a locked mailbox and give the government the key, people briefed on the negotiations said. Facebook, for instance, built such a system for requesting and sharing the information, they said.
The data shared in these ways, the people said, is shared after company lawyers have reviewed the FISA request according to company practice. It is not sent automatically or in bulk, and the government does not have full access to company servers.

Instead, they said, it is a more secure and efficient way to hand over the data.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/prism-facebook-and-google-secure-servers-just-for-sharing-with-the-government-2013-6#ixzz2VdNfUQ8O

In other words, the companies are giving NSA everything it asks for -- which is everything, if the VERIZON warrant is representative -- but just after the lawyer's have read the Order. But, since the FISA Court orders are ongoing, isn't that the same thing as "direct server access", just through a separate communications channel, the "lock box"?

The conclusion we should draw from this is that NSA is scooping up all data from all sources, and then doing something with it. What might that be? Profiling, of course, otherwise they couldn't handle all that data about so many people. But, everyone gets run through the system to identify persons of interest. Of course. Please, see, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/07/1214479/-Is-Universal-Profiling-of-phone-users-in-America-the-next-revelation

GoneFishin

(5,217 posts)
2. Too many qualifiers in their denials for my taste. They probably are not legally allowed to
Sat Jun 8, 2013, 11:49 AM
Jun 2013

discuss it if it is happening. But I suspect there is no law against them denying it. I am sure that this controversy is not a boost for business.

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