WikiLeaks criticized Google Inc on Monday, alleging that the company waited two-and-a-half years to notify members of the anti-secrecy group that it had turned over their private e-mails and other information to the US government.
In a letter to Google, lawyers representing WikiLeaks said they were “astonished and disturbed” by Google’s actions relating to search warrants it received from federal law enforcement officials and asked for a full accounting of the information Google gave the government.
The revelation follows leaks by former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden detailing controversial US government surveillance practices and assurances from technology firms like Google that they would do their utmost to safeguard users’ personal information.
Photo: Reuters
“While it is too late for our clients to have the notice they should have had, they are still entitled to a list of Google’s disclosures to the government and an explanation why Google waited more than two-and-a-half years to provide any notice,” read the letter from the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of WikiLeaks and addressed to Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and general counsel Kent Walker.
WikiLeaks, founded by Julian Assange, landed in the public spotlight in 2010 when it published a trove of classified government information, including leaked US diplomatic cables.
Google, whose online services include the world’s No. 1 Internet search engine, as well as the popular Web e-mail service Gmail, notified three members of WikiLeaks on Dec. 23 last year that it had provided “all of their e-mail content, subscriber information, metadata and other content” to law enforcement officials more than two years earlier, according to the letter.
Google provided the information in response to warrants for an investigation concerning espionage, conspiracy to commit espionage and the theft or conversion of property belonging to the US government, among other items, the letter said.
Google said in a statement on Monday that it has a policy of informing users about government requests “except in limited cases, like when we are gagged by a court order, which sadly happens quite frequently.”
Google noted that it has pushed to unseal all the documents related to the investigation.
WikiLeak’s letter drew a comparison to social media service Twitter Inc, which it praised for fighting the government in order to notify subscribers about such court orders.
The letter from WikiLeaks’ lawyers asked Google to provide details about whether it had initiated any challenge to the search warrants before complying and whether it initiated any legal challenge to notify users about the warrants.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San
Clambering hand-over-hand, sweat dripping into his eyes, a durian laborer expertly slices a cumbersome fruit from a tree before tossing it down to land with a soft thump in his colleague’s waiting arms about 15m below. Among Thailand’s most famous and lucrative exports, the pungent “king of fruits” is as distinctive in its smell as its spiky green-brown carapace, and has been farmed in the kingdom for hundreds of years. However, a vicious heat wave engulfing Southeast Asia has resulted in smaller yields and spiraling costs, with growers and sellers increasingly panicked as global warming damages the industry. “This year is a crisis,”