Askari Kanzu
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- Jan 7, 2011
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange rails against Facebook, says it's a spy tool for US government
BY Nina Mandell
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange called Facebook "the most appalling spying machine ever invented" in an interview with Russia Today, pointing to the popular social networking site as one of the top tools for the U.S. to spy on its citizens.
"Here we have the world's most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations, their communications with each other and their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to US Intelligence," he said. "Facebook, Google, Yahoo, all these major U.S. organizations have built-in infaces for US intelligence.
"Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook they are doing free work for the United States intelligence agencies," he added.
The comments were a bit strange, coming from the founder of a website best known for pushing spilling secret information.
In an email to the Daily News, a Facebook spokesman denied the company was doing anything that they weren't legally obligated to do, saying that "the legal standards for compelling a company to turn over data are determined by the laws of the country, and we respect that standard."
"We don't respond to pressure, we respond to compulsory legal process," the spokesperson wrote. "There has never been a time we have been pressured to turn over data -- we fight every time we believe the legal process is insufficient."
In any event, many Facebook users have been increasingly concerned about the sharing of their information.
In 2010, three Democratic senators asked the FTC to look at the social networking site's information-sharing policies.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that popular Facebook apps like Farmville and Causes also shared users' information with advertising and tracking companies.
Concerns about information-sharing has seemingly done little to dissuade the more than 250 million people who use Facebook - including someone who created an official WikiLeaks page on the site.
More than 1.72 million people clicked that they like it.
Assange is currently in England, awaiting extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault charges.
Source
BY Nina Mandell
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange called Facebook "the most appalling spying machine ever invented" in an interview with Russia Today, pointing to the popular social networking site as one of the top tools for the U.S. to spy on its citizens.
"Here we have the world's most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations, their communications with each other and their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to US Intelligence," he said. "Facebook, Google, Yahoo, all these major U.S. organizations have built-in infaces for US intelligence.
"Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook they are doing free work for the United States intelligence agencies," he added.
The comments were a bit strange, coming from the founder of a website best known for pushing spilling secret information.
In an email to the Daily News, a Facebook spokesman denied the company was doing anything that they weren't legally obligated to do, saying that "the legal standards for compelling a company to turn over data are determined by the laws of the country, and we respect that standard."
"We don't respond to pressure, we respond to compulsory legal process," the spokesperson wrote. "There has never been a time we have been pressured to turn over data -- we fight every time we believe the legal process is insufficient."
In any event, many Facebook users have been increasingly concerned about the sharing of their information.
In 2010, three Democratic senators asked the FTC to look at the social networking site's information-sharing policies.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that popular Facebook apps like Farmville and Causes also shared users' information with advertising and tracking companies.
Concerns about information-sharing has seemingly done little to dissuade the more than 250 million people who use Facebook - including someone who created an official WikiLeaks page on the site.
More than 1.72 million people clicked that they like it.
Assange is currently in England, awaiting extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault charges.
Source
