Net Giants Try To Quell Users' Jitters About Their Data
Companies like Google and Facebook are very much caught in the middle of the current debate about national security and privacy. Press reports have said the companies are required to turn over huge amounts of customer data to government agencies like the National Security Agency, but the companies are often barred from saying anything publicly about the requests they receive.
That's left customers to wonder whether someone is looking over their shoulder when they use Facebook and similar sites.
"Google, Facebook and Microsoft and the rest of the companies are at risk of losing customer trust," says Sarah Rotman Epps, a senior analyst at Forrester Research. "And I think they're frustrated by their [in]ability to talk directly about these matters with their customers."
Global Users And The Bottom Line
This is an especially big issue in large, growing overseas markets. One of the surveillance programs at issue, known as PRISM, analyzes data collected by U.S. tech companies from foreign users. The European Parliament has expressed serious concerns about the programs.
"We are interested in what is going on," says Manfred Weber, a member of the European Parliament. "Is there really checking of all the emails? Is there really checking of all the Internet traffic? We want to know how it works."
And this could well affect the bottom line at companies like Google. Weber says U.S. surveillance programs appear to give Americans broader privacy protections than non-Americans. European regulators, he says, are especially bothered by this — and it could well affect Google's ability to do business in these markets.
"And when they have the feeling that the American companies are not guaranteeing these standards — couldn't guarantee [them] — then this will be for the long term an influence for the business question," Weber says.
That means companies like Google have a lot at stake in the current debate over surveillance programs. On Tuesday, Google sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking for permission to reveal how often the company turns over customer information to the government. Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook quickly echoed the request. The companies say that releasing this information will dispel the notion that government investigators are given unlimited access to customer data.
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