Following on the heels of a televised interview in which President Obama promised increased limitations on the scope of NSA surveillance, tech industry giants united yesterday to release a policy statement urging governments to “limit surveillance to specific known users” and to call on authorities to exercise greater transparency around what they request. Apple, Google, and Facebook took the lead in presenting this statement, together with Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Since Edward Snowden’s revelations of NSA spying tactics went public, the tech industry has been scrambling to restore consumers’ trust after fears that sensitive information had been willingly shared with government agencies. “Recent revelations about government surveillance activities have shaken the trust of our users,” said Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, “and it is time for the United States government to act to restore the confidence of citizens around the world.”
The joint policy statement urges the US to take the lead in international surveillance reform by ending bulk collection of Internet data, making surveillance requests subject to legal review, cooperation on “lawful requests for data across jurisdictions,” and overall respect for “the free flow of information.”
And today we celebrate...