In the past couple weeks, acronyms like PRISM, NSA and FISA have become household names, for not so good reasons. News of the US Government ordering companies from Verizon to Microsoft to gather data on us, whether we did anything wrong or not, has dominated conversation. Facebook and Microsoft weigh in.
Facebook and Microsoft become the first two companies to tell the public just how many people they were to get data on, due to orders from the National Security Advisor. Facebook’s count was 18,000. Microsoft’s count was 31,000. Keep in mind this less than one tenth of a percent of Americans that use these online services regularly. They did this to put consumer minds at ease and put to rest PRISM rumors and conspiracy theories. While Google CEO Larry Page blatantly denies spying.
I think Facebook and Microsoft did the right thing. First off, they came out and admitted their role in the NSA info gathering. Then they gave concrete numbers and other hard facts. Instead of denial, they went into great detail. While these numbers look big, keep the context in mind: billions use Facebook and Microsoft. I applaud Facebook and Microsoft for this move.?I just hope they’re telling the truth. Has this confession put your trust back in online corporations?