Tech titans’ muted response on NSA data mining

Another leak from Edward Snowden. Another flood of denials from the tech titans required to assist the National Security Agency. And another round of statements, from Silicon Valley and beyond, that sidestep the real issue at hand.

Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo are veritable warehouses for some of the data the National Security Agency desires as it investigates foreign terror suspects, but they’ve not come out swinging publicly on Capitol Hill for specific limits on what the agency can collect — even as those companies have deployed their big-bucks lobbying and legal shops in a bid for more transparency. The contrast again was evident a day after Snowden’s documents helped The Washington Post determine the NSA is snapping up Web users’ contact lists. Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo said they had no knowledge of the program, but each still stopped short again of asking for any substantial changes to federal law. The companies also didn’t name any new restrictions they’d back on the NSA’s collection practices — a muted response that speaks volumes at a time when Congress is at the drawing board on surveillance reform.