PRISM: Tech Companies Keep Trying to Gain Back Trust

This past week there has been an avalanche of news regarding tech giants that are trying to convince the American authorities to improve transparency around surveillance efforts, as well as to give them the chance to disclose more details about the data requests made by the government.

Microsoft, for instance, took the opportunity to once more iterate that it has not been giving the NSA direct access to its servers and that all products it offers are completely safe.

The statement brings nothing new to the table and is basically the same as the one given over a month ago, when the scandal had just started, although perhaps it sounded a bit more irate at all the fuss made by the media.

In an effort to show that they want more transparency, companies that have been specifically named in the NSA PRISM documents, such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and Apple have been trying over and over again to gain back some of the trust they lost when Edward Snowden’s leaked documents hit the press.

It’s true that these companies have denied any involvement since the start, but the American authorities have done nothing to help them out in stating their cases, keeping mum on the subject and limiting their speeches to the technical aspects of the programs, rather than the players involved.

With all the information coming through, it’s difficult to tell who’s lying anymore or whether the truth is in the carefully worded statements made by Internet companies.

Regardless, the decision to believe – or not – in the innocence of these companies lies with each individual. While many have decided to keep using the same services, others have sought out proper replacements to use instead.

This has been done, however, more in protest rather than for the privacy’s sake, since it is known the NSA also has the ability to collect information without tapping into the servers of these Internet companies.