Facebook's Zuckerberg lambastes NSA, says government "blew it"
The Edward Snowden leaks and related government fallout has resulted in extensive backlash for technology companies cited in the PRISM documents, one of which is Facebook. The social network's Mark Zuckerberg spoke about the matter today at the Disrupt tech conference, saying that he feels the government "blew it" in several ways.
During an interview with Michael Arrington on stage at the Disrupt event, Zuckerberg said: "Frankly, I think the government blew it. It's our government's job to protect all of us and also protect our freedoms and protect the economy and companies, and I think they did a bad job of balancing those things. They blew it on communicating the balance of what they were going for."
He went on to criticize the government's statements that it doesn't spy on Americans, saying, "Oh, wonderful. That's really helpful [for global companies.]" Sarcastically, it should be noted. Zuckerberg also stated that Facebook has joined other tech companies in lawsuits seeking permission to publish both the nature and quantity of government data requests, something it is thus far barred from doing.
Zuckerberg wasn't the only one to speak on the matter, however, with Yahoo!'s Marissa Mayer stating things of a gentler nature, including that she is proud of Yahoo! for the court battle it has had with the government over the requests it has received, though she went on to express elements of sympathy for those working with the NSA and such against threats to the nation. She also pointed out that "when you lose [a legal battle] and don't comply [with the government's data request], it's treason."
The latest round of classified and legal documents to hit the media have revealed more about the NSA's dealings, among them being raw intelligence that is being shared with Israel, phone records database searches in violation of court standards, and documents claiming the government has full access to Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry handsets.
SOURCE: Mercury News