According to a leaked document, the NSA have been tapping into both Google and Yahoo servers to ‘spy’ on their users. What’s more, it appears the NSA is doing this without either company’s permission, which means both companies have no idea that this is even happening. Of course, this is a huge security threat to users of both services.
The leaked document reveals that the NSA is able to secretly exploit links between Google and Yahoo servers, which allowed (and still is allowing) them to collect over 181 million pieces of information over 30 days. The government, if they wanted, can request this information, but as the NSA is doing this without consent of either company, it’s being frowned upon by pretty much everybody, including Google and Yahoo.
According to The Washington Post, Google is “troubled by allegations of the government intercepting traffic between our data centers,” and that sources close to the matter claim that Google, upon seeing the document, responded with “I hope you publish this.”
Yahoo responded in the same way, a spokesperson said “…we have not given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency.”
The NSA appears to have admitted doing this as well, when being asked they simply replied with “It’s legal, it’s necessary, and it’s authorized in every case.”
The fact that this is possible with Google and Yahoo means it’s highly likely that the NSA is doing it to other companies such as Microsoft. It just comes to show, that even if these big companies say no to the NSA, it doesn’t mean they won’t get what they want. Your data is never, ever truly safe.
What are your thoughts on this? Leave them in the comments section below!
