Marchingontogether
TK Veteran
The statistics reveal that a number of multinational tech corporations, including Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Google, are revolting against US government spooks and their demands for private data. It seems that if the government demands the user’s personal, private email or other information, the abovementioned tech giants and others are taking steps to notify the user faster and more frequently than they used to do before
However, such practice is getting the companies in trouble with prosecutors that believe such behavior may interfere with ongoing investigations and evidence collection. According to the Washington Post, the industry is keen to distance itself from the US authorities after 2013 disclosures about NSA surveillance of various Internet services. They can be understood – people don’t trust their secrets to online services anymore, and their use keeps decreasing. If the companies show there are interested in helping people keep their privacy, they can get their popularity and profit from it back again.
Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google were seen updating and expanding their policies to enhance routine notification of ordinary people about government data seizures, unless specifically gagged by a judge or other legal authority. Such claims were made by the officials at all four tech giants. The “big 4” are following Yahoo who announced such changes last July. Of course, these measures won’t be able to stop the spooks from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or from National Security letters, which are automatically gagged as a matter of law, but it still can cause a couple of headaches for internal spying.
For example, Google has already enforced its policy that includes exemptions of imminent harm and criminal activity, saying that the company will notify users about legal demands when appropriate, unless prohibited by law or court order. As for Apple, the company made a rare comment as well, saying that it would update its policies so that normally, when law enforcement requests personal data about a customer, the latter will receive a notification from the company. Finally, Microsoft is working on revising its disclosure policies at the moment as well.
However, such practice is getting the companies in trouble with prosecutors that believe such behavior may interfere with ongoing investigations and evidence collection. According to the Washington Post, the industry is keen to distance itself from the US authorities after 2013 disclosures about NSA surveillance of various Internet services. They can be understood – people don’t trust their secrets to online services anymore, and their use keeps decreasing. If the companies show there are interested in helping people keep their privacy, they can get their popularity and profit from it back again.
Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google were seen updating and expanding their policies to enhance routine notification of ordinary people about government data seizures, unless specifically gagged by a judge or other legal authority. Such claims were made by the officials at all four tech giants. The “big 4” are following Yahoo who announced such changes last July. Of course, these measures won’t be able to stop the spooks from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or from National Security letters, which are automatically gagged as a matter of law, but it still can cause a couple of headaches for internal spying.
For example, Google has already enforced its policy that includes exemptions of imminent harm and criminal activity, saying that the company will notify users about legal demands when appropriate, unless prohibited by law or court order. As for Apple, the company made a rare comment as well, saying that it would update its policies so that normally, when law enforcement requests personal data about a customer, the latter will receive a notification from the company. Finally, Microsoft is working on revising its disclosure policies at the moment as well.