Datamation content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook have asked the U.S. government to let them explain how they comply with requests for user data. Last week, a whistleblower revealed that the NSA has been collecting data from the tech companies’ servers through a program known as Prism.
Computerworld’s John Ribeiro reported, “Facebook and Microsoft have joined Google in asking for greater transparency in surveillance requests, following widespread criticism of the U.S. government’s surveillance programs and the role of the Internet companies. Twitter’s General Counsel Alex Macgillivray also wrote in a message Tuesday on the service that Twitter supports efforts for more transparency in NSLs (national security letters) used by the government to collect data.”
Politico’s Alex Byers and Michelle Quinn added, “[Google] fired off its letter to the office of the attorney general and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The company asked the government to allow it to include more information in reports about how frequently it is asked to give up user data under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). ‘Assertions in the press that our compliance with these requests gives the U.S. government unfettered access to our users’ data are simply untrue,’ Chief legal officer David Drummond wrote.”
Mashable quoted a Facebook statement, which said, “We would welcome the opportunity to provide a transparency report that allows us to share with those who use Facebook around the world a complete picture of the government requests we receive, and how we respond. We urge the United States government to help make that possible by allowing companies to include information about the size and scope of national security requests we receive, and look forward to publishing a report that includes that information.”
BBC News noted, “Separately, a coalition of more than 80 rights groups and internet companies have launched a website, StopWatching.Us, which has called on Congress to launch a full investigation. The site is backed by the World Wide Web Foundation, a group founded by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web.”
RELATED NEWS AND ANALYSIS
-
Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
-
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
-
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
-
Top 10 AIOps Companies
FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
-
What is Text Analysis?
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
-
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
-
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
-
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
-
Top 10 Chatbot Platforms
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
-
Finding a Career Path in AI
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
-
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
-
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
-
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
-
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
-
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
-
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
-
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
-
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
-
Anticipating The Coming Wave Of AI Enhanced PCs
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 05, 2020
-
The Critical Nature Of IBM’s NLP (Natural Language Processing) Effort
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
August 14, 2020