Now Reading
Report: Federal Agencies Accessing Servers of Facebook, Google and other Major Internet Companies

Report: Federal Agencies Accessing Servers of Facebook, Google and other Major Internet Companies

Just a day after a story from The Guardian claimed federal security agencies were looking at Verizon subscriber call logs, a new report says the government is now looking at what you do on the Internet. The Washington Post says it has obtained top-secret documents showing that The National Security Agency and the FBI are directly accessing the servers of Google, Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, PalTalk, Skype and Apple and can monitor user activity. The report says the agencies regularly collect data such as photos, emails, documents, chat logs and connection histories from servers as part of a massive effort code-named PRISM.

In a response on Thursday, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said, “Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence information we collect … The unauthorized disclosure of information about this important and entirely legal program is reprehensible.” Clapper also said the newspaper reports about PRISM contained “numerous inaccuracies,” yet failed to identify what was inaccurate about them. Several Internet companies contacted The Post, saying they had no knowledge or PRISM and did not allow the government to access their servers. As The Guardian also points out, even the PRISM logo looks like something a villain from a ‘70s spy movie would use …

View Comments (7)

Leave a Reply

© 2023 RELEVANT Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Scroll To Top

You’re reading our ad-supported experience

For our premium ad-free experience, including exclusive podcasts, issues and more, subscribe to

Plans start as low as $2.50/mo