Tech executives to Obama: NSA spying revelations are hurting business

Leaders of the nation’s biggest technology firms warned President Obama during a lengthy meeting at the White House on Tuesday that National Security Agency spying programs are damaging their reputations and could harm the broader economy.

Cisco Systems has said it is seeing customers, especially overseas, back away from American-branded technology after documents revealed that the NSA enlisted tech firms and secretly tapped into their data hubs around the world as the agency pursued terrorism suspects. Companies such as IBM, AT&T and Verizon Communications are facing angry shareholders, some of whom have filed lawsuits demanding that the companies disclose their participation in NSA intelligence programs.

Okay, so is corporate pressure going to bring tha reform? Because apparently, invasion of privacy, subversion of due process, and misuse of personal data isn't a problem until it starts to impact market share.

Maybe:

The gathering was scheduled for two hours but went well over the allotted time, with the majority of the discussion focused on the companies’ demands for changes to NSA spying programs, according to tech industry officials...

Their message was to say: “What the hell are you doing? Are you really hacking into the infrastructure of American companies overseas?"...

Oh, but wait for it:

...The same American companies that cooperate with your lawful orders and spend a lot of money to comply with them to facilitate your intelligence collection?” said one industry official familiar with the companies’ views.

Maybe not.

www.washingtonpost.com...

reply to post by Eidolon23


Apparently it's not just the tech companies either. Boeing just got caught by the same hammer.

NSA fallout sees Brazil snub Boeing as Saab wins jet deal

Looks like another $4.5 billion down the tubes due to the NSA spying.

reply to post by Bassago


Terrible news! Diminishing profits for US-based companies is bad enough, but now that we've totally alienated half our allies, how ever are we going to push through the next illegitimate war?

But seriously, will this lead to genuine reform, or just a simulacrum of reform (which, reading between the lines, seems to be all the corps are really asking for)? Because, real or simulated, reform is a bankable inevitability at this point.

reply to post by Eidolon23

But seriously, will this lead to genuine reform, or just a simulacrum of reform

Quite frankly I couldn't say for sure. What I do believe is those who obtain power are loath to give it up and will use every dirty trick available to retain it. Blackmail and murder are not beyond them IMO.

If I had to guess... we'll probably see some pseudo reform with a huge MSM propaganda push telling us the problem has been resolved.

You're going to see the same sort of 'reform' that you see from businesses when they get caught doing something naughty. You'll get an apology, an "I'm sorry, you deserve better. We are appalled by what has transpired and we have restructured our policies to ensure this never happens again" and they'll continue doing what there were doing, but will do it in a way that's hidden even further from the public eye.

Recently FIOA releases described how the FBI has been sending multiple counter terrorism task forces to animal rights conventions to gather intelligence, and through clandestine operations disrupt their efforts. The reason that animal rights organizations are considered terrorist in nature according to the FBI documents is that the organizations could undermine the profits of American meat companies.

So by the FBI's definition, isn't the NSA a terrorist organization since they are undermining the profits of American tech companies, and now apparently military aircraft manufacturers?

reply to post by Eidolon23



Cisco Systems is loosing so much business ,just read there tech boards . The Nsa is even spying on there home routers and switches sold at your local big box store. I.e. Linksys. Cisco gave some lame. Excuse like the nsa." We use your network for addressing tech support issues " this did not go over well with customers. Amazon even has a warning on there boards about cisco linksys equipment. The Ceo is now allowing customers to download a revised version of the linksys router software that don't creep and search your drives and personal home network. No one I know is down loading there spyware. That is just one company. D- link routers and switches have been found with a backdoor . LG has been caught with there new there Tv technology copying entire contents of any harddrive hook up to it , and uploading the content to a server.

You can actually find allot of this info on company tech boards , thats if get there before the content is erased.

The only reform I see are for the companies involved. Its to late for a few , cisco is being dealt a death blow , they were having problems for the last decade. The CEO should have know better. Cisco will be the first to go out of business because of the NSA. IBM will be next. Everyone of these companies will be out of bussiness or not have much of a business left. I give them all 5 years max. Google is not going to be what it used too, Yet there maybe a chance .

The bottom line is America has lost trust with government and now with American companies. There really is no recovery from spying like this. All trust has been destroyed.

The best way to stop this spying is just hang up for a few years. Toss all the tech in the trash after a good de-mag, and $2.00 hammer. Get back your old line phone back. Buy a pen , pad and start some old fashioned letter writing. Imagine the money we could all save.

reply to post by SJE98


You could go the Luddite route, sure. Starve the system of input, but also starve yourself of information and avenues of communication. Or, you could do this instead:

In the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, residents deprived of easy access to the Internet have strung together cheap, rooftop antennas to create their own DIY network.

The “mesh” first began to take shape in 2011, under the direction of the nonprofit Red Hook Initiative (RHI).

The DIY network is held together by routers placed on rooftops. Costing only $50 to $85, these “backbone nodes” transmit residents' communications across the neighborhood. “The density of housing in Brooklyn and other other New York City boroughs is fantastic, so that's great for building a mesh,” said Clive Thompson, who has reported on similar meshes for Mother Jones. “Many meshes also pool money in neighborhoods to pay for tall, range-extending antennas they put on top of mesh members' buildings.”...

According to documents leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden earlier this summer, many of these major telecom companies go so far as to provide the agency with direct access to the infrastructure of the Internet.

Meshes can offer an alternative. “The community owns and controls that data, rather than handing it over to a third party service or external organization,” said Bullen.

www.dailydot.com...

Handy DIY Internet Guide

reply to post by Eidolon23


Did I not read this exact thread word for word including all the same bold print at the end?? I know I did.. If I don't find out how I might lose my mind.

Beyond that, the world is changing so fast I have no clue where this all ends, but it's looking bad for America in a lot of ways at this point.

I mean if we start losing out big on technology on top of manufacturing what do we have left? Banks to bail out? Farming? How much entertainment can we make?

Edward Snowden literally changed the world in 2013 and I'll bet he continues to bring to light even more drastic news followed by drastic changes in the years to come.

Really what the corporations are trying to say is "Make sure this goes smoother in the future and doesn't get exposed."