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Apple, Google, Microsoft: We Have No Government Email Scanning Program Like Yahoo's (vocativ.com)
Apple, Google and Microsoft -- three of the largest technology companies in the U.S. -- have each said they don't scan all incoming messages for the U.S. government, which is exactly what Yahoo does. According to Reuters, Yahoo secretly built a custom software program last year to search all of its customers' incoming emails for specific information provided by U.S. intelligence officials. The company complied with a classified U.S. government directive, scanning hundreds of millions of Yahoo Mail accounts at the behest of the National Security Agency or FBI. Vocativ reports: In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson told Vocativ that "We have never engaged in the secret scanning of email traffic like what has been reported today about Yahoo." While Apple declined to give a statement on the record, a representative for the company did, in response to Vocativ's question, refer to CEO Tim Cook's official letter on consumer privacy, which reads in part: "I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will." The fact that both the companies declined further statement means it's not yet known if the NSA or FBI approached them to request they build a program like Yahoo's. Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Alphabet's Google issued a statement to CNBC: "We've never received such a request, but if we did, our response would be simple: 'no way.'" [The spokesperson later clarified that the company has not received a "directive" or "order" to that effect, either, according to The Intercept.] But the question is whether or not you believe them. With Yahoo's case, only a handful of employees knew about the program. The same could be true with Apple, Google, Microsoft or any other large tech company. Edward Snowden tweeted not too long after Reuters' report surfaced: "Heads up: Any major email service not clearly, categorically denying this tomorrow -- without careful phrasing -- is as guilty as Yahoo."
Everyone knows they read all your emails.
That's why I've gone off shore.
- jamesd@qq.com
- Anonymous "Coward"
> Microsoft spokesperson told Vocativ that "We have never engaged in the secret scanning of email traffic like what has been reported today about Yahoo."
Bullshit.
Proof: Microsoft (R) Online Services Global Criminal Compliance Handbook
They just copy EVERY email and send it to them!
we can't trust any company, not large and not even small.
to 'play ball' in today's USA, you have to follow orders. and one of those orders is 'do not admit to following orders'.
so, all this is just talk. 100% unverifyable talk. maybe its true, but likely - based on what we now know (that we once just assumed but didn't know for sure) - the spooks own the internet and they are not showing any signs of giving it back.
look at the wordplay and parse it out. WE don't scan emails. ok, maybe the 'we' is not active, but does ANYONE scan them on your network? how about transit networks?
so many holes to exploit. and again, to stay in business, you can't say no to Pappa. not in the US, at least.
I don't believe apple, either, when they appeal to 'privacy' and that they don't disclose backdoors to gov orgs. totally unprovable, just 'take tims word for it'. yeah sure. right.
the only thing you can assume is that every network is bugged and every cpu has backdoors (think: intel ME).
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.
Yeah, that's reassuring. Except, what's being described here falls under neither of those categories. It's not a backdoor, and it doesn't require providing access to Apple's servers. So, Apple is blithely sidestepping the issue with careful phrasing, denying only activities about which they were not asked, while artfully ignoring those about which they were.
its worse than that. all major pipes to and from ANYWHERE are going thru US owned routers, core and otherwise.
no one is 'safe' anymore. once the spooks decided to own the network, with their money their power and their 'thou shalt not disclose under pain of prison' bullshit, there's no way to know; but its highly probable that every single transcontinental link is 'managed' and tappable.
this is why its a world problem. its not at all limited to the US.
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
It looks like it's twitching almost like a wink, when you say that.
its worse than that. all major pipes to and from ANYWHERE are going thru US owned routers, core and otherwise.
That is why any data in transit should be encrypted. "They" can still do traffic analysis, and see who is talking to whom, but that can be ameliorated by using proxies and sending dummy traffic.
This is exactly what they would have to say, legally speaking
No. Gag orders prevent you from telling the truth. They cannot, legally, require you to lie.
Did everyone forget about PRISM? I feel like everyone forgot about PRISM.
The PRISM leak states that every one of this big companies, MS, Google, Facebook, have dedicated software hooks for searching any record, anytime.
Or is Edward Snowden is limited hangout, and everything he said coming straight from the CIA?
Nope, never been approached. Yahoo was the ONLY one. Yup.
...we're much better than them. We've developed our own proprietary systems to streamline and automate the surveillance process and increase our productivity in keeping the American public, and their children, safe... blah... blah... blah...
Isn't it also Google (Alphabet?) that are vigorously promoting and selling their surveillance systems as a service to repressive regimes around the world?
After this news, Yahoo will have much less accounts that can be hacked.
More seriously, how come (especially in Japan) so may people keep using Yahoo is a big mistery.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
... like Yahoo's...
Ours are much more advance and stealthy
No one can be held accountable for for naughty things that might have been said in their Yahoo email because their password was compromised.
To say they don't do it in the same way as Yahoo is not the same as completely denying cooperation. I've never heard a a denial from these companies, for example, that they might feed all information sources to either an on-site or off-site cluster that government entities have access to. I've always watched the wording on statements and they seem to be carefully crafted to not lie, and to only deny very specific suspicions.
A Marissa Mayer decision again.
Yep. She's cute and intelligent but Yahoo hid the "wiretap" from Alex Stamos (the freaking Chief Information Security Officer) and he and his team only discovered it later which seems to have been the reason he left. Apparently Yahoo (Marissa) did this secretly to avoid any in house conflict. I'd say she isn't CEO material but it isn't like the majority of CEOs in the country set the bar all that high.