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Feds reach deal with U.S. Internet giants over data disclosure
by Joseph Earnest January 28, 2014
Newscast Media WASHINGTON—The U.S. government has reached an agreement with leading Internet companies that would allow them to reveal more details about online data collected by government agencies. The deal marked the latest move aimed at easing public distrust of the controversial surveillance programs of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).
The agreement would allow Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Yahoo to disclose more aggregate information about how many information requests they received from the government and how many customer accounts had been affected under NSA's mass surveillance programs, the U.S. Justice Department said.
"The administration is acting to allow more detailed disclosures about the number of national security orders and requests issued to communications providers, and the number of customer accounts targeted under those orders and requests including the underlying legal authorities," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in a joint statement.
"Permitting disclosure of this aggregate data resolves an important area of concern to communications providers and the public," they added.
The agreement came after Barack Obama offered a series of changes to the NSA's controversial surveillance programs about a week ago, as the leaks about U.S. government spying by former defense contractor Edward Snowden continued to spark controversy and furor at home and abroad. Add Comments>>
Source: Xinhua
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