Are #Google and #Facebook Just Pretending They Want Limits on #NSA #Surveillance ? | VICE United States
▻http://www.vice.com/read/are-google-and-facebook-just-pretending-they-want-limits-on-nsa-surveillance
Il ne doit pas être nécessaire que la NSA obtienne préalablement un #mandat pour que nous collaborions avec lui, disent Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo et similaires.
Revelations about the National Security Agency’s most controversial surveillance program, which centers on the bulk collection of hundreds of billions of records of Americans’ phone conversations, were quickly greeted with calls for reform by major internet powerhouses like Facebook, Google, #Microsoft, and #Yahoo last year. But all four companies, along with dozens of other major tech firms, are actively opposing an initiative to prevent NSA spying known as the Fourth Amendment Protection Act, leaning on secretive industry lobbying groups while they profess outrage in official statements.
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... the industry [is] wielding its influence behind closed doors using two #lobbying groups to oppose certain restrictions on internet surveillance: the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS) and the State Privacy and Security Coalition (SPSC). A look at the actions of these two groups suggests that the companies want reform, sure, but only on terms that don’t affect their day-to-day business.
In particular, VICE has uncovered that ITAPS and SPSC have sent letters to politicians lobbying against the Fourth Amendment Protection Act, a wide-sweeping bill that would limit the NSA’s ability to read private electronic communications without a warrant.
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“ITAPS is essentially opposed to the bill because it will do what the bill is intended to do,” Maharrey said in an interview. “The intent of that section is to stop the companies from cooperating with the NSA and violating our civil liberties. We want companies to make a choice.”