14 DAY TRIAL // Google has testified in front of the US Congress for the first time since the NSA scandal broke through in June. During the meeting, Google warned against policies that would turn the Internet into a product of the surveillance state, rather than a place where people could express freely.
Lawmakers are currently holding hearings, looking into what changes they can make to the system that has been exposed by Snowden’s leaks, Reuters reports.
“The current lack of transparency about the nature of government surveillance in democratic countries undermines the freedom and the trust most citizens cherish, it also has a negative impact on our economic growth and security and on the promise of an Internet as a platform for openness and free expression,” said Google’s Richard Salgado, law enforcement and information security director.
According to a new set of changes that has been proposed by a US senator, the NSA would have to report to the public how many Americans’ data gets collected, inadvertently or otherwise. Furthermore, companies such as Google would be allowed to inform their customers about government data requests, something most of them are banned from doing.
The imposed gag orders are not only stopping companies from revealing information, but they also have the effect of damaging their image as people think they’re simply giving out data to the government.
“You can certainly look at the reaction, both inside the United States and outside of the United States to these disclosures, to see the potential of the closing of the markets through data location requirements,” Salgado said.
He then continued by pointing out that this situation is bad for all US companies and for the Internet in general. “This is a very real business issue, but it is also a very real issue for the people who are considering using the cloud and for those who currently use the cloud and may have their trust in it rocked by the disclosures,” he said.