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Comment by brummm | Hacker News Reader

I always wonder. The CIA/NSA must essentially target the big Amazon, google and microsoft clouds to get blanket access to everything running and stored there. Seems like a no brainer from their standpoint.

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I’d say the likelihood of an American Big Tech without CIA covert operatives working there is essentially zero, even if there’s no direct cooperation. It doesn’t make sense to not utilize some of your most valuable assets.

Back in the 70s to 90s the CIA had presidents of Mexico as operatives (see LITEMPO). So, I wouldn't be surprised that nowadays some high level people at Google, Microsoft, etc are CIA assets.

Similarly, the KGB (as later exposed by VENONA) had their fingers in extremely sensitive pies during the early cold war period.

I find stuff like this very interesting and hadn't heard of LITEMPO before, thanks!

From another point of view, we can see American Big Tech and CIA (and some other agencies) as the two faces of a same coin : america leadership, as usa are raising their power from economical and cultural supremacy over other country. I may have a blurry foreigner (french) view on your country, but I really see this intrication as real and substential as it was in URSS. In a much robust way, of course, making your country so powerfull.

Yes. Although with Google and other tech giants, they have good security, but really bad privacy. So there is little chance of your Google searches being leaked onto some shady darkweb forum, but a better chance it is being leaked to NSA etc. Also haven't you heard about NSLs[0] & Prism[1]?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_letter

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)

It should noted that they can also assign agents to work at these firms or recruit existing employees, so they have a broad pallet to deal with. And a given person working for the secret agencies might not have to do more than turn a blind eye to something once in a while.

However, these large firms have enterprise-wide security and too many people would notice the vacuuming of data for this to be done by single agents. So that would require secret court order and secret laws, as we know existed a few years ago.

So no doubt you have some level of secret agency access but exactly how much is difficult to say. Remember these are companies operating globally and it's in their interests to not be seen as mere extension of US intelligence and foreign policy but at the same time these agencies can very persuasive, etc. etc.

Or they just ask, which is essentially how prism already worked for user data.

Yeah, I highly doubt there's any targeting there. The big tech Co.s are practically fronts for the US Gov.

> Yeah, I highly doubt there's any targeting there. The big tech Co.s are practically fronts for the US Gov.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket (1935).

History doesn't repeat but it does rhyme.

It seems to be the natural state that centres of power co-operate with each other lest they lose their power.

Churches with Kings, Corporations with Government.

Didn't some PRISM documents show that Google's internal use of TLS 1.2 was blocking a more widespread collection of data?

I'll see if I can find the slide that articulated the issue.

That was part of it.

The other part was "Do what we tell you, or you'll be Joe Nacchioed"

In a 2013 interview, Marissa Meyer made it abundantly clear this is why Yahoo "voluntarily" joined PRISM. One can assume the rest were similarly influenced.

PRISM is their database for storing subpoena responses. You don't "join" it.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Nacchio

Thank you.

They just ask: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51207744

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