Google gives first testimony before Congress since Snowden leaks

Search giant Google pushed the US government to be more open about its online spying in the first such testimony before Congress by a major technology company since a series of news leaks began in June 2013.

In written testimony submitted to a US Senate judiciary subcommittee, a Google executive said that the official secrecy was contrary to American values and hurting US economic interests. "Governments have a duty to protect their citizens. The current lack of transparency about the nature of government surveillance in democratic countries, however, undermines the freedoms most citizens cherish," Google's director for law enforcement and information security, Richard Salgado, said. He was expected to take questions later in the hearing. Salgado also quoted reports that US companies may lose billions of dollars in revenue as non-American users of the Internet grow wary of services based in the United States.