“Wednesday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer presented her company’s side of fighting the National Security Agency over requests to have a look-see at the data of Yahoo users,” Bob Cringely writes for I, Cringely. “It’s a tough fight, said Mayer, and one that takes place necessarily in private.”
“Mayer was asked why tech companies had not simply decided to tell the public more about what the U.S. surveillance industry was up to,” Cringely writes. “‘Releasing classified information is treason and you are incarcerated,’ she said.”
Cringely writes, “There’s no way Marissa’s baby would spend even an hour in jail, which is exactly why I wish she’d take a public stand on the issue, this nonsense would go away, and we could get back to solving real problems.”
Much more – including a high-powered lawyer’s opinion – in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
United States Constitution, Amendment IV:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
Join The Electronic Frontier Foundation in calling for a full congressional investigation here.
Related articles:
German government: Windows 8 contains U.S. NSA snooping back doors; too dangerous to use – August 23, 2013
Report: NSA can see 75% of U.S. Web traffic, can snare emails – August 21, 2013
NSA can read email, online chats, track Web browsing without warrant, documents leaked by Edward Snowden show – July 31, 2013
Momentum builds against U.S. government surveillance – July 29, 2013
U.S. House rejects effort to curb NSA surveillance powers, 205-217 – July 24, 2013
Obama administration scrambles to shut down imminent U.S. House vote to defund NSA spying – July 24, 2013
Obama administration demands master encryption keys from firms in order to conduct electronic surveillance against Internet users – July 24, 2013
Apple, Google, dozens of others push Obama administration to disclose U.S. surveillance requests – July 19, 2013
Secret court agrees to allow Yahoo to reveal its fight against U.S. government PRISM requests – July 16, 2013
How Microsoft handed U.S. NSA, FBI, CIA access to users’ encrypted video, audio, and text communications – July 11, 2013
DuckDuckGo search engine surges 33% in wake of PRISM scandal – June 20, 2013
Yahoo: Since December 2012, we have received up to 13,000 U.S. gov’t requests for customer data – June 18, 2013
Apple: Since December 2012, we have received U.S. gov’t requests for customer data for up to 10,000 accounts – June 17, 2013
Nine companies, including Apple, tied to PRISM, Obama to be smacked with class-action lawsuit – June 12, 2013
U.S. lawmakers urge review of ‘Prism’ domestic spying, Patriot Act – June 10, 2013
PRISM: Do Apple, Google, Facebook have an ethical obligation not to spy on users? – June 8, 2013
Plausible deniability: The strange and unbelievable similarities in the Apple, Google, and Facebook PRISM denials – June 7, 2013
Google’s Larry Page on government eavesdropping: ‘We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday’ – June 7, 2013
Seecrypt app lets iPhone, Android users keep voice calls, text messages away from carriers, government eyes and ears – June 7, 2013
Obama administration defends PRISM data-collection as legal anti-terrorism tool – June 7, 2013
Facebook, Google, Yahoo join Apple in sort-of denying PRISM involvement – June 7, 2013
Report: Intelligence program gives U.S. government direct access to customer data on Apple servers; Apple denies – June 6, 2013
Q: What if Marissa Mayer went to jail?
A: MDN would have some spanktacular jail house pr0n running through his imagination.
Q: What if Marissa Mayer went to jail?
A: Conjugal visits! I’ll take one for team Mac…
Orange is the New Black
One word: Hot
There’d be some really awesome catfights in whatever jail Marissa went to.
Good article by Cringely. As he says, I suspect tech companies are getting something from the government to keep quiet. In fact, didn’t we find out recently that the NSA is paying companies like MS for all the user information they are “sharing” with the NSA.
Of course, if a company decided to say FU to NSA, then I suspect the NSA representative would visit the CEO with some tidbits of personal information on the CEO that the CEO would prefer to remain private.
I hope people are not naive enough to think the government is collecting all our information to keep us safe. Information is power and people in government want all the power they can get.
Exactly. I think they were all willing participants, and now they are posing as victims to fix their public face. If we had something like a rule of law or a justice system both sides of this would be in jail for collusion to violate the constitution.
There is $250 million budget for paid access to some sets of cellphone companies’ data. Verizon, AT&T and others profit from taxpayers money, charging the government. This is besides and in accordance to all the bulk spying NSA does on citizens and their conversations.
Well, Cringley is certainly naive if he really thinks that taking this “out in the open” will make it go away.
Haven’t seen anything like that happen with the government yet.
“Of course, if a company decided to say FU to NSA, then I suspect the NSA representative would visit the CEO with some tidbits of personal information on the CEO that the CEO would prefer to remain private.”
Or they might lean on fund managers to dump the company’s shares over an extended period, say September 2012 to December 2012. They might start a PR campaign accusing the company of avoiding paying federal taxes. They might have the DOJ charge that company with anti-trust violations. They might make sure that enforcement of that company’s patents didn’t happen. Yeah, they might do stuff like that.
I agree with Zeke and do not agree with Cringely. The fact is the NSA could make life very, very miserable for any company which did not comply with its orders.
Plus, let’s not forget that these are legal orders as far as the companies are concerned: The search requests were reviewed by a judge, who then signed the order authorizing the searches. So as far as the order is presented to the company, it is an order from the court to release the information.
The illegal part is not up to the companies to decide, it’s up to Congress and us as citizens to voice our upset at it and demand it change.
It’s a very similar situation to a reporter going to jail for not revealing sources.
Actually….. Didn’t they already do all of that over the last year to Apple??
Just saying.
Ps. Fearing that the world is ending is ok, If the sky is actually falling.
Just saying.
Yes, that was my point. All of this happened to Apple within the last year. Most of it directly attributable to the federal government. The only indirect action would be the feds leaning on fund managers to sell Apple. It wouldn’t even have to imply force, just “Psssst, I’ll tell you a secret. We’re gonna bust Apple.” If that whisper is coming from a DOJ or IRS official, or any other high ranking fed the fund managers are going to listen.
I didn’t think I’d have to lay it out for you, Norm, that I think this may have happened to Apple already.
Zeke is exactly right.
Think about when Jobs was alive, and how Apple’s stock was constantly underperforming.
When he stopped making day-to-day decisions, and upon his death, the stock started it’s meteoric rise.
Recently the stock has been getting hammered, as well as Apple Inc. itself, what with US anti-trust rulings over iBook, court cases against Samsung that seem to give much less to Apple than the law & logic dictate, and even the PRC getting into the act with transparently bogus ‘warranty issues’ over Apple’s products.
It’s clear that the first occurred because Jobs wasn’t cooperating – either at all, or as fully as NSA wanted. Jobs began building up the cash hoard to protect Apple, no matter what happened to the stock, no matter what other areas the government would try to squeeze him from.
The second – the rise of Apple’s stock – came under Cook’s tenure (both informal and formal). He began cooperating. It was a new era at Apple – Ding Dong the Jobs was dead! – and he and the company were being rewarded for their good behavior.
Now the third stage is indicating some prevarication on the part of Cook and Apple, but their own behavior also indicates that whatever concerns they have, whatever government initiatives (foreign & domestic) they aren’t cooperating with, they aren’t totally going rouge. Cooks ‘apology’ to the PRC for warranty stuff was a washed, public message to their government, letting them know they were ready to play ball (i.e. no one in China uses an iPhone for anything the government doesn’t know about). And at home, after opening up iCloud & creating those back doors in iDevices in the first place, Apple may be in the shithouse now because they didn’t make their fingerprint sensor technology equally as transparent. Once you get into bed with the Boa, you should have no expectations that he won’t keep squeezing you no matter how often you stroke him.
Wall Street investment banks are nothing more or less than an arm of the government now. They are like Financial Special Forces – they are given a target, and then do what they do to bring it down. This is what happened to Greece (and by extension all of the EU), and clearly is what worries the CEOs of any company vis a vis whether they cooperate or not with illegal, immoral government actions. And since most CEOs see their only real obligation in life as to their shareholders … you can see where this all begins and ends for most of them.
Jobs was different. He was the apple picking, LSD dropping, libertarian hippy, who knew how much freedom – in all its guises – had to do with not just his success, but the success of all of us as a nation long-term. He was smart enough to know not to get in bed with the snake. He was savvy enough to know that only money would protect him and Apple from those whose most effective bullet was money, so he accumulated enough of it to armor them for a lifetime or more. And he was humble enough to know that the stakes were bigger than him, his career, or even his freedom/life. That’s ultimately why they couldn’t stop him, why he was so successful.
And the reason why Apple is having so much trouble now, legally at least & probably even with their stock price, is because Cook is trying to play both sides of the net. At times he’s making decisions he knows the governments in question won’t like, but then he back tracks at others. That’s just weakness in their eyes, not savvy, so they are becoming more brazen in their attempts to bring Apple to heal. Icahn is someone to watch for that reason.
I hope Cooks wakes up. I hope the executive board pushes him to stake a firmer stand against this stuff. I’d love it if MArisa Meyer would lend Yahoos might to that effort. The sooner they all realize that this system is going to eat their precious companies up the same way it is eating up private individuals, eventually, the sooner they’ll more effectively fight it & win.
The longer they wait, the tighter the coils get, & the more likely it is that it’s lights out.
Good analysis.
I assume that the reason Apple held out against PRISM so long is that Steve Jobs told the NSA to go fuck itself. He was probably like: “I’m a multi-billionaire (so I’m one of your owners, dumb-asses), I’m extremely popular, and I’m dying of cancer. What the fuck do you fascist bastards think you’re gonna do to me?”
I think Tim Cook is a good CEO, but he’s not in the same position of strength when it comes to dealing with our increasingly authoritarian corporatist government.
What’s MDN obsession with that pict of Marissa Mayer?
Google her and you see she’s ok at best, but I guess she’s graded on a curve because she’s a CEO
Because she totally hot in that picture.. I’m sure it’s Marissa’s favorite pic as well.
If you want to look at less flattering pics keep Googling. I’ll keep clicking the MDN Marissa Mayer articles to see that pic.
Or I could just step outside, but then I live in South Beach, and the hottness here is insane 🙂
I’ll never tire of that pic. Never!
Tell her to man up and protect our privacy. Orange is the New Black.
Man can you imagine how popular she’d become! Marissa Mayer for President!
And if she goes to jail, I will be visiting her 🙂
I’d bring her a big red ball.
L O L
Good idea.!
I’d bring her two 🙂
=:~)
Yeah, that’s right, I said, “Man up” about a female CEO! HA! I ain’t afeared of no feminists! Or boy feminists who think talking the talk will get them lucky.
Yay TM! Our HERO!
If anyone is thinking that the company or the CEO would not suffer at the hands of the government (post NSA uncompliance) you need your head examined.
Read up on what happened to CEO of QWEST. By the way, he is in jail for speaking up against the government.
Soon the only ones not in jail will be Obomba the Kenyan Dreck and his faithful minions that voted for him and like do get a$$ fucked by him daily.
Being careful/ aware is good but being so far off the page that you do not know what book everyone is using……
Well, that is just sad. And it gets you ignored.
Just saying
Knowing how the US government is scanning almost every website for “dissenting opinions”, I think it’s safe to say that yer butt is going to get in trouble…
Mcman,
Thanks SO much for your insightful contribution. Your thinking is like a laser, cutting to the heart of the matter, illuminating the issues like a veritable ray of wisdom. I’m sure everyone has been persuaded by the devastating logic and your veritably poetic use of the English language.
mmmm I guess Marissa babe shouldn’t pick up the soap in the shower then? 😉
MDN, get the vogue picture please.
You guys just wanted an excuse to post the photo of Marissa on that red ball again. Fess up!
Have to admit she’s probably the only CEO that looks hot sitting on that ball.
Ballmer sittin’ on that same ball….
Ha, I actually lol’d.. Hmm but what would he wear? Hmmmmm…
Why would Ballmer be sitting on his head?
Mini MDN Poll:
How many of you guys actually read the article and how many of you never got past the picture? ; )
Hey MDN, why the massive need for privacy from the NSA? I feel sorry for the poor NSA schmucks for having to delve through my boring matters.
Maybe it’s because some of us don’t see anything to be gained by the NSA (or any agency) needlessly, mindlessly collecting everything on everybody in efforts to find what amounts to “needles in haystacks”.
I’m speaking by analogy, but… you don’t need to go through a haystack one straw at a time in order to find a needle. All you need is a magnet.
Someday ( if they aren’t already), someone is going to want to put all that information to some other use… and, of course, it will be done for the “public welfare”.
I wonder what that use could be?
As for all those who aren’t concerned about these sort of things because they don’t consider the “boring matters” of their lives important enough to merit the state’s concern, maybe this quote (attributed in various forms to Martin Niemöller) could provide some insight as to why they ought to care.
“First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the socialists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”
True.
The reality is that these are just people.
People that can be broke, jealous, greedy, or just hateful. People with tons of uncontrolled POWER.
People with no one in control.
People that become dictators.
You guys are so obsessed with her. Are you forgetting Yahoo Widgets, a blatant Dashboard rip off? I was royally pissed off when they did that. Now they have Yahoo TV, which will retroactively rip off Apple’s iTV. Yahoo is just as bad as Google, just with a nicer face…and a sexy CEO.
Well, at least she isn’t creepy
In response to this article’s title, the 1st thing I will do is to organize a large scale silent and peaceful protests/hunger strike with everyone sitting on a big red ball in front of the court/jail house!!
No, she deserves it. Are you forgetting Yahoo Widgets (Dashboard) and Yahoo Connected TV (which will look like iTV after that is released) There are even rumors that Yahoo will be building a new smartphone OS, and may even buy off Tizen. I hope you are hungry, because you will be eating crow soon…
She has more balls than some CEOs. A Maggy Thatcher kinda gal. You go, girl.
“‘Releasing classified information is treason and you are incarcerated,’ she said.”
What’s TREASON is knowingly breaking the 4th Amendment to the US Constitution, which says:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Dear Marissa, Here’s what someone much smarter said about your situation:
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
– Benjamin Franklin
And no kiddies. There is no context to this statement. It’s plain, simple and true. There is NEVER an excuse for giving up one’s human rights. NEVER. If you believe otherwise, you have yourself to blame for the fascism, ad nauseam, that follows. You.
Releasing classified information is treason IF YOU HAVE SECURITY CLEARANCE or if you obtained the info in an illegal way.
If the government comes to you and says you have to do something and you can’t tell anyone . . . screw that!!!
If you didn’t sign any non disclose papers then you can say anything you want. Short of “fire” in the theatre or slander.
This isn’t Russia.