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Google, Blackberry's User Info Allure Law Agencies
By siliconindia
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Monday, 03 October 2011, 20:00 IST
Bangalore: The recent case where Blackberry's messenger service was used to coordinate riots in UK, has made leading companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook to allow surveillance work as their gathered users' information become more and more alluring to the law enforcing agencies, Wev Experts told Reuters.
These companies may claim to keep their user information private, but everyone knows that their business is dependent on exploiting the user data for advertising purposes. The huge amount of personal data that companies like Google and RIM have can no longer be ignored, the Internet Governance Forum delegates felt.
"When the possibility exists for information to be obtained that wasn't possible before, it's entirely understandable that law enforcement is interested," Google's Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf told Reuters in an interview.
"Many internet companies are already receiving requests from governments and law agencies to hand over their user information," said online privacy activist Christopher Soghoian. "Every decent-sized U.S. telecoms and Internet company has a team that does nothing but respond to requests for information," revealed Soghoian to Reuters in an interview.
Soghoian also said the cost of surveillance is really low, with Google charging $25, Yahoo $20, and Facebook and Microsoft charging nothing.
