The United States of America’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has responded to companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook and LinkedIn.
The Government has replied back to the companies which asked about the surveillance programs that the Government does on the citizens, and its related data.
The replies are clearly intended to protect the US Government’s ability to conduct such programs on people, and also the access that has been granted to certain agencies. In other words, the government is not comfortable sharing any data with these companies.
The document gives a clear and neat reason for the government to conduct such programs. It states:
The purpose of this review is to make public as much information about these activities as is consistent with the national security interests ofthe United States. In conducting this review, the Government must balance the need to inform the public about these activities With the need to protect classified sources and methods of intelligence collection, including the Government’s ability (or inability) to conduct surveillance on particular electronic communication service providers or platforms.
Read the entire document that the US Government has published in reply to these companies here: