Top tech firms want stronger surveillance rules
An open letter from Google, Apple, Microsoft and other top tech firms urges Congress and the president to reform U.S. rules so surveillance efforts are "restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight."
Some of the leading lights of technology are asking Congress and the White House to reform surveillance laws and practices in the wake of intelligence-gather leaks over the summer from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, AOL and LinkedIn have ask the United States "to take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight."
A letter to Congress and President Barack Obama was posted on a new website called Reform Government Surveillance.
The group's effort reflects a growing concern among U.S. firms that their reputations are being undermined in the global marketplace by disclosures about bulk data collection by the NSA, efforts to limit the effectiveness of data encryption, and reports of interception of Internet traffic on networks between secure servers. By one estimate, disclosures of NSA surveillance could cost U.S. cloud providers between $22 billion and $35 billion over the next three years in global enterprise business.
To see the complete story and more reaction from the companies go to FCW.com.