Yahoo CEO Mayer: we faced jail if we revealed NSA surveillance secrets
- theguardian.com, Wednesday 11 September 2013 20.18 EDT
Yahoo
chief Marissa Mayer: 'Releasing classified information is treason and
you are incarcerated', she told the TechCrunch disrupt conference.
Photograph: Reuters
Yahoo and Facebook, along with other tech firms, are pushing for the right to be allowed to publish the number of requests they receive from the spy agency. Companies are forbidden by law to disclose how much data they provide.
During an interview at the Techcrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Mayer was asked why tech companies had not simply decided to tell the public more about what the US surveillance industry was up to. "Releasing classified information is treason and you are incarcerated," she said.
Mayer said she was "proud to be part of an organisation that from the beginning, in 2007, has been sceptical of – and has been scrutinizing – those requests [from the NSA]."
Yahoo has previously unsuccessfully sued the foreign intelligence surveillance (Fisa) court, which provides the legal framework for NSA surveillance. In 2007 it asked to be allowed to publish details of requests it receives from the spy agency. "When you lose and you don't comply, it's treason," said Mayer. "We think it make more sense to work within the system," she said.
Zuckerberg said the government had done a "bad job" of balancing people's privacy and its duty to protect. "Frankly I think the government blew it," he said.
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Zuckerberg says U.S. 'blew it' on NSA spying
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the annual Tech Crunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco on Sept. 11, 2013. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) ( Dai Sugano )
SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
lashed out at the U.S. government Wednesday, saying that authorities
have hurt Silicon Valley companies by doing a poor job of explaining the
online spying efforts of U.S. intelligence agencies.
"Frankly I
think the government blew it," Zuckerberg complained during an onstage
interview at the tech industry conference known as Disrupt, a weeklong
event where Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer
and other prominent tech executives also spoke out publicly and
expressed frustration in person, for the first time, since a series of
news leaks revealed the government's controversial surveillance
programs."It's our government's job to protect all of us and also protect our freedoms and protect the economy, and companies," Zuckerberg told interviewer Michael Arrington, "and I think they did a bad job of balancing those things."
He went on to say: "They blew it on communicating the balance of what they were going for."
Facebook and other Internet companies have been under intense pressure in recent months after a series of news reports that suggest U.S. intelligence agencies have gained access to the online activities and communications involving users of Facebook and other popular services. Some of those reports have suggested that unnamed companies have cooperated with the U.S. efforts, although the details are unclear.
Analysts say those reports could hurt the companies financially, especially overseas, if consumers and business customers believe their sensitive information isn't safe from government prying.
Along with Google (GOOG), Yahoo and other tech giants, Facebook has insisted it doesn't give the government free rein to tap into its servers. But the companies also say they comply with legal requests to turn over user information. And they have chafed at national security rules that prohibit them from discussing the details of their actions.
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