Apple denies involvement in US government communication surveillance
Apple has told CNBC that it does not provide the US government with direct access to its servers, contradicting a Washington Post report that the company, among others, is knowingly participating in a secret program that is allowing the government to monitor the activity of US residents.
The program, codenamed PRISM, was created in 2007 and is used by the National Security Agency and the FBI to provide information on everything from emails to photo and videos and connection logs to monitor a person's online movements -- all without having a warrant issued. The companies the Washington Post say have openly complied with PRISM include Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, PalTalk, Skype and YouTube with Dropbox appearing to jump on board soon. PRISM can "quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type," a government official told the Washington Post.
Google has issued a similar denial to Apple, saying that no "back door" into Google's servers exist.
