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Dec 10, 2013, 06.05 AM IST
WASHINGTON: Facebook doesn't like it, nor does Google, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Twitter, and the likes. Eight major US-based technology companies have asked Uncle Sam to lay off snooping on citizens and ban bulk collection of data in an open letter to President Barack Obama and the US Congress published on Monday.
In the most concerted action ever, the eight usually antipathic tech majors, with a combined market cap of $1.4 trillion and a user base of billions, laid bare their growing concerns over the erosion of public trust in the internet after recent disclosures by whistleblower Edward Snowden about the extent of government surveillance led by the United States, ostensibly in the interest of fighting terrorism.
''We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens. But this summer's revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide. The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual - rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. This undermines the freedoms we all cherish,'' the letter says.
The concern is not all idealistic. The open letter, published in several US newspapers, comes amid worries in Silicon Valley and Wall Street that American pre-eminence in Internet technology and infrastructure, and the commercial windfall accompanying it, may be at risk because of the erosion of trust. Already, countries such as Brazil are instituting reforms aimed at fire-walling its communication infrastructure from that of the US to prevent American surveillance practices. There are fears that such a ''balkanization of the web'' will hurt the bottom-line of US tech companies.
''People won't use technology they don't trust. Governments have put this trust at risk, and governments need to help restore it,'' Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith said in a statement accompanying the open letter that made a splash in Washington DC, where the Obama administration and the Congress are gearing up to regulate some of the practices that have come to light.
Obama has promised to reign on some aspects of the NSA surveillance although he has not provided any details. A bipartisan legislation proposed by the Democratic chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy, and the Republican author of the Patriot Act, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner is aimed at curtailing the surveillance power given to US intelligence agency in the aftermath of 9/11 and ''to put their metadata program out of business.'' But Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is sponsoring a separate bill that would enshrine the right of security agencies to collect bulk data.
The tech majors, who are otherwise fiercely competitive and are involved in epic internecine battles to win user loyalty and monetize it, have now banded together to weigh on policy matters they had otherwise disdained.
''The ability of data to flow or be accessed across borders is essential to a robust, 21st century, global economy,'' the companies argued in the list of reform principles they enunciated with the open letter. "Governments should permit the transfer of data and should not inhibit access by companies or individuals to lawfully available information that is stored outside of the country. Governments should not require service providers to locate infrastructure within a country's borders or operate locally.''
That principle is primarily aimed at Brazil, which is debating legislation that would require data on Brazilians to be stored in Brazil. The US majors say foreign governments need to come together to agree new international standards regulating surveillance, failing which they may be legal snafus.
''In order to avoid conflicting laws, there should be a robust, principled, and transparent framework to govern lawful requests for data across jurisdictions, such as improved mutual legal assistance treaty - or ''MLAT'' - processes,'' the companies said. ''Where the laws of one jurisdiction conflict with the laws of another, it is incumbent upon governments to work together to resolve the conflict.''
Tech giants unite against US spying - The Times of India
WASHINGTON: Facebook doesn't like it, nor does Google, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Twitter, and the likes. Eight major US-based technology companies have asked Uncle Sam to lay off snooping on citizens and ban bulk collection of data in an open letter to President Barack Obama and the US Congress published on Monday.
In the most concerted action ever, the eight usually antipathic tech majors, with a combined market cap of $1.4 trillion and a user base of billions, laid bare their growing concerns over the erosion of public trust in the internet after recent disclosures by whistleblower Edward Snowden about the extent of government surveillance led by the United States, ostensibly in the interest of fighting terrorism.
''We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens. But this summer's revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide. The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual - rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. This undermines the freedoms we all cherish,'' the letter says.
The concern is not all idealistic. The open letter, published in several US newspapers, comes amid worries in Silicon Valley and Wall Street that American pre-eminence in Internet technology and infrastructure, and the commercial windfall accompanying it, may be at risk because of the erosion of trust. Already, countries such as Brazil are instituting reforms aimed at fire-walling its communication infrastructure from that of the US to prevent American surveillance practices. There are fears that such a ''balkanization of the web'' will hurt the bottom-line of US tech companies.
''People won't use technology they don't trust. Governments have put this trust at risk, and governments need to help restore it,'' Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith said in a statement accompanying the open letter that made a splash in Washington DC, where the Obama administration and the Congress are gearing up to regulate some of the practices that have come to light.
Obama has promised to reign on some aspects of the NSA surveillance although he has not provided any details. A bipartisan legislation proposed by the Democratic chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy, and the Republican author of the Patriot Act, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner is aimed at curtailing the surveillance power given to US intelligence agency in the aftermath of 9/11 and ''to put their metadata program out of business.'' But Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is sponsoring a separate bill that would enshrine the right of security agencies to collect bulk data.
The tech majors, who are otherwise fiercely competitive and are involved in epic internecine battles to win user loyalty and monetize it, have now banded together to weigh on policy matters they had otherwise disdained.
''The ability of data to flow or be accessed across borders is essential to a robust, 21st century, global economy,'' the companies argued in the list of reform principles they enunciated with the open letter. "Governments should permit the transfer of data and should not inhibit access by companies or individuals to lawfully available information that is stored outside of the country. Governments should not require service providers to locate infrastructure within a country's borders or operate locally.''
That principle is primarily aimed at Brazil, which is debating legislation that would require data on Brazilians to be stored in Brazil. The US majors say foreign governments need to come together to agree new international standards regulating surveillance, failing which they may be legal snafus.
''In order to avoid conflicting laws, there should be a robust, principled, and transparent framework to govern lawful requests for data across jurisdictions, such as improved mutual legal assistance treaty - or ''MLAT'' - processes,'' the companies said. ''Where the laws of one jurisdiction conflict with the laws of another, it is incumbent upon governments to work together to resolve the conflict.''
Tech giants unite against US spying - The Times of India
