US intelligence agencies have direct access to social networks user data, cyber security expert says
02.06.2015,
18:24
US intelligence agencies have direct access to data about users of social networks, an Armenian cyber security expert Tigran Kocharyan said in an interview with Sputnik-Armenia radio station.
YEREVAN, May 29. / ARKA /. US intelligence agencies have direct access to data about users of social networks, an Armenian cyber security expert Tigran Kocharyan said in an interview with Sputnik-Armenia radio station.
"All the major players in the Internet market, search engines, social network either collaborate or simply provide user data to US special services. This is an established fact; the US National Security Agency (NSA) did not deny it,’ said Kocharyan.
According to Kocharyan, the transfer of personal data is fraught with many dangers - it can become a threat to life, an occasion for blackmail and may make a person controllable.
Kocharyan argued that European nations can not ban the US intelligence services from continuing this practice, ‘as most of Western leaders are dependent on America.’
An international Sputnik.Polls survey conducted by ICM Research (UK) for the Sputnik international agency and radio has revealed that Americans and Europeans embraced by the poll are highly concerned about the privacy of their personal data. According to the poll, a substantial number of respondents in Europe and the US believe that the world's major social networks and IT companies unlawfully provide user data to the US National Security Agency.
In response to the question "You may have heard about the scandal following the alleged transfer of user data by major corporations and social networks to the National Security Agency. Which statement reflects your opinion more accurately when it comes to the protection of user data online," almost half of the respondents in Germany (47 percent) and over one-third of the respondents in France (38 percent) said they believe that "companies provide the NSA with direct access to user data, which is against the law."
In the UK and the US almost one-third of the respondents, 31 percent and 29 percent respectively, believe the same.
Only 9 percent of the total number of respondents acknowledge efforts by international social networks and large IT corporations to protect user privacy. They responded that companies "do everything possible to protect their users online and do not cooperate with government agencies in providing personal data." Only 11 percent of Americans agreed that major companies do not hand over data to government agencies.-0-
"All the major players in the Internet market, search engines, social network either collaborate or simply provide user data to US special services. This is an established fact; the US National Security Agency (NSA) did not deny it,’ said Kocharyan.
According to Kocharyan, the transfer of personal data is fraught with many dangers - it can become a threat to life, an occasion for blackmail and may make a person controllable.
Kocharyan argued that European nations can not ban the US intelligence services from continuing this practice, ‘as most of Western leaders are dependent on America.’
An international Sputnik.Polls survey conducted by ICM Research (UK) for the Sputnik international agency and radio has revealed that Americans and Europeans embraced by the poll are highly concerned about the privacy of their personal data. According to the poll, a substantial number of respondents in Europe and the US believe that the world's major social networks and IT companies unlawfully provide user data to the US National Security Agency.
In response to the question "You may have heard about the scandal following the alleged transfer of user data by major corporations and social networks to the National Security Agency. Which statement reflects your opinion more accurately when it comes to the protection of user data online," almost half of the respondents in Germany (47 percent) and over one-third of the respondents in France (38 percent) said they believe that "companies provide the NSA with direct access to user data, which is against the law."
In the UK and the US almost one-third of the respondents, 31 percent and 29 percent respectively, believe the same.
Only 9 percent of the total number of respondents acknowledge efforts by international social networks and large IT corporations to protect user privacy. They responded that companies "do everything possible to protect their users online and do not cooperate with government agencies in providing personal data." Only 11 percent of Americans agreed that major companies do not hand over data to government agencies.-0-
