POLITICO — After days of fielding criticism about the government’s surveillance programs, tech titans went on the offensive Tuesday.
Google started the wave, writing the government and asking to make federal requests for national security information more transparent. That call was quickly followed by statements from Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter. On its face, the missive allows Google and other big tech names to lobby Washington for more transparency — something they’ve long done — but it also kicks things up a notch in the public relations game, where consumer confidence will be crucial for Internet companies going forward.
Last week’s media reports on the National Security Agency’s PRISM program raised significant questions about how easily the government is getting its hands on users’ data. Google and other Silicon Valley heavyweights — Apple, Facebook, Yahoo — swiftly and vigorously pushed back on the allegations that it gave the government direct access to its servers.
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