Reuters: Technology News: Microsoft helped NSA, FBI access user info: Guardian

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Microsoft helped NSA, FBI access user info: Guardian Jul 11th 2013, 21:38 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News French lawsuit targets NSA, FBI, tech firms over Prism 2:53pm EDT Latin American nations fuming over NSA spying allegations 8:41am EDT NSA 'spied' on most Latin American nations: Brazil paper Tue, Jul 9 2013 REFILE-U.S. NSA 'spied' on most Latin American nations - Brazil paper Tue, Jul 9 2013 Brazil seeks U.S. response to alleged spying on citizens Sun, Jul 7 2013 Analysis & Opinion Microsoft needs focus, gets bigger org chart Is it him, or is it not? The Microsoft logo is seen at their offices in Bucharest March 20, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Bogdan Cristel SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Jul 11, 2013 5:38pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp worked closely with U.S. intelligence services to help them intercept users' communications, including letting the National Security Agency circumvent email encryption, the Guardian reported on Thursday. Citing top-secret documents provided by former U.S. spy contractor Edward Snowden, the UK newspaper said Microsoft worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the NSA to ease access via Prism - an intelligence-gathering program uncovered by the Guardian last month - to cloud storage service SkyDrive. Microsoft also helped the Prism program collect video and audio of conversations conducted via Skype, Microsoft's online chat service, the newspaper added. Microsoft had previously said it did not provide the NSA direct access to users' information. On Thursday, it repeated that it provides customer data only in response to lawful government requests. "To be clear, Microsoft does not provide any government with blanket or direct access to SkyDrive, Outlook.com, Skype or any Microsoft product," the company said in a statement on its website. Facebook Inc, Google Inc and Microsoft had all publicly urged U.S. authorities to allow them to reveal the number and scope of the surveillance requests after documents leaked to the Washington Post and the Guardian suggested they had given the government "direct access" to their computers as part of the NSA's Prism program. The disclosures have triggered widespread concern and congressional hearings about the scope and extent of the information-gathering. (Reporting by Edwin Chan; Editing by Richard Chang) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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