Privacy row erupts after US whistleblower unveiled

The storm that emerged last week over the leaking of top-secret intelligence documents has put the spotlight on how seriously leading tech firms take users private information.
After a former CIA technical worker – revealed as 29 year old Edward Snowden – leaked to the Guardian newspaper key information about US surveillance tactics, some of the world’s best-known technology companies were revealed to have granted access to supposedly secure user data.

The Prism programme allowed the US’s National Security Agency (NSA) access to user information from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook and Apple. According to Mike Rispoli, spokesman for Privacy International, anyone that uses internet services is vulnerable to the surveillance programme: “Essentially anyone who participates in our interconnected world and uses popular services like Google or Skype can have he their privacy violated through the Prism programme.”

Many of the companies accused of allowing access have denied any knowledge of it, with Apple releasing a statement saying: “We have never heard of Prism. We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order.”

Yahoo, on the other hand, gave a carefully worded denial. It said they did not “volunteer” information to the US government, but security and privacy research Christopher Soghoian pointed this gave them room for manoeuvre: “By falsely describing Prism as a voluntary scheme, Yahoo’s general counsel is then able to deny any involvement outright.”

The US government has been keen to stress that Prism was not being used to get information on American citizens, although concerns at the weekend were raised by privacy campaigners in the UK over whether the US government had access to British-based internet users.

Jim Killock, director of civil liberties organisation the Open Rights Group, said: “Where this leaves the rest of the world – including UK citizens, businesses, charities, MPs, campaigners and NGOs – is another matter.”

Speaking to the Guardian from Hong Kong about his reason for leaking the information, Snowden said: “The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife’s phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.”