

Google, Apple and Facebook Outright Deny They’re Helping the NSA Mine Data - ghshephard
http://allthingsd.com/20130606/google-and-apple-outright-deny-theyre-helping-the-nsa-mine-data/

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andyl
Admit to colluding with NSA is illegal - you could go to jail for revealing
the truth.

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jamesaguilar
I am beginning to wonder if this might be a hoax. Could this have really gone
for years without leaking from any of these companies? Engineers tend to be
pretty freedom-minded . . . and the slides . . . they don't look real. I guess
we'll see soon enough. (Edit: I am speaking only about PRISM. The phone record
thing seems pretty cut and dry.)

~~~
sneak
These sorts of orders are all gag-ordered by default. They have to lie to
everyone about their existence, including co-workers and spouses, or they go
immediately to jail.

It's a matter of individual criminal liability. Stop thinking of a corporation
as a single entity for a second.

~~~
spiritplumber
I can understand "no comment" but can a government order me to lie unless I am
in its direct employ?

~~~
sneak
This is a memo sent to Verizon employees today from Verizon's general counsel.
Please note bullet point #2.

[http://publicpolicy.verizon.com/blog/entry/from-the-desk-
of-...](http://publicpolicy.verizon.com/blog/entry/from-the-desk-of-randy-
milch)

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elathan
I don't now if the graph is real ([http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/audio/video...](http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/audio/video/2013/6/6/1370553948414/Prism-001.jpg)), but
Microsoft bought Skype in 2011. :)

~~~
lotu
But Google bought Youtbe in 2006. What's the delay?

~~~
Someone
For YouTube? The 'tone' of YouTube comments is different from that of, say,
web sites or regular emails, so one could guess that their software to parse
the comments and get real information from them wasn't good enough to be worth
it before.

------
ghshephard
"Said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling in a statement today, “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.”"

~~~
wl
The existence of this program is classified top secret. I doubt a spokesperson
has the security clearance to even know about the program. Even if he did have
such a clearance, it would be illegal for him to disclose any information
about the program.

