Google Denies Participating in NSA's Secret PRISM Program

Posted on June 7, 2013

Google denies any involvement in the NSA's secret PRISM program in a blog post. The post was published by Google CEO Larry Page and Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond.

Google was one of nine Internet companies listed as being included in the NSA's shocking data mining program revealed yesterday in a Washington Post story. The Post also published documents that show Google was the third company to join PRISM. Apple is listed as the most recent company.

Google says, "First, we have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government - or any other government - direct access to our servers. Indeed, the U.S. government does not have direct access or a 'back door' to the information stored in our data centers. We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday."

Google also says, "Our legal team reviews each and every request, and frequently pushes back when requests are overly broad or don't follow the correct process. Press reports that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access to our users' data are false, period."

The Post's PRISM report is problematic for companies providing email, search, social networks, etc. because users of these services may choose to halt of curb their usage if they think the government has access to and/or copies of all their emails, posts, photos and private chat conversations.

An ABC story has rounded up adamant denials from all the tech companies listed as participating in the incredibly invasive NSA data mining program. Mark Rumold, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told ABC News that one reason the companies are issuing denials is because they are forbidden by law from disclosing information about it.