NOTHING TO HIDE

Google Pushes to Publish Confidential Data

For greater transparency, post-NSA scandal.

Accused of giving the U.S. government open-door access to user information, tech companies implicated in the NSA Prism spying scandal are going on the offensive. In an open letter to the U.S. attorney general and the FBI on Tuesday, Google denied supplying unlimited information to security agencies and requested that they be allowed to publish the confidential details of fulfilled FISA requests to prove it. Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter were quick to join the public-relations party, issuing statements of their own concerning government secrecy and their desire for greater transparency. Experts say the government is unlikely to approve the data release, which may not matter, since a majority of Americans don’t care about the program anyway.