Silicon Valley Firms Pen Letter To Government Demanding Transparency

Firms involved in PRISM data collection ask government for transparency.

Silicon Valley to President Obama: be more open.

Officials from Silicon Valley's top technology firms -- including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo -- have written a letter to American government officials asking for more transparency into government demands into personal data, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

These companies were all involved in the PRISM data-collection program revealed earlier in the year by NSA leaker Edward Snowden and the Washington Post.

Certain data from these companies were requested by the US government, ostensibly as part of investigations to ensure security. However, innocent parties' data were also collected, the newspaper reported.

"The US government should ensure that those companies who are entrusted with the privacy and security of their users’ data are allowed to regularly report statistics," the letter to the government reads.

The signees of the letter also want the government to disclose how many times data is requested, the newspaper reported.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us