‘U.S. Government Blew It’: Zuckerberg (VIDEO)
Mark Zuckerberg articulated sharp criticism on the U.S. government on Wednesday.
The Facebook CEO said the government authorities had hurt Silicon Valley companies as their explanation of online spying endeavours of Intelligence agencies in the country was frustratingly poor.
Mr Zuckerberg candidly explained that he thought that "the government blew it." Mr Zuckerberg was answering to questions at Disrupt, the weeklong tech industry conference. Mr Zuckerberg was, however, not the only major personality who was frustrated due to the government's activities. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, along with other major tech executives, expressed how frustrated she was. It was the first time when tech biggies were talking in public on what they felt regarding the controversial surveillance programmes.
Mr Zuckerberg told Michael Arrington, the interviewer who asked significant questions to him, that it was the responsibility of the government to protect every citizen in the country. It is also responsible for protecting individual freedom as well as companies and economy. He believed that the U.S. government performed terribly while trying to balance those things.
Mr Zuckerberg turned out to be all guns blazing when he was criticising the recent scandal related to NSA. Raw intelligence and American citizen's personal data were sent to Israel, according to the scandal. Several younger CEOs maintained an uncanny silence on the scandal, but Mr Zuckerberg seemed to be in a different mood altogether. He highlighted the significance of protecting human rights for every American. He mentioned that Facebook would start a new campaign for promoting transparency.
Mr Zuckerberg further stated that he was irritated at the fact that Facebook was not allowed to disclose the number of NSA requests it denies and grants to the public. Forbes reported that Facebook had received about 12,000 requests from the U.S. government to provide the authorities with information on certain Facebook users.
Mr Zuckerberg also said that every American should have the right to know about government programmes. He also said that the government's excuse that it was spying only on non-Americans did not help American start-up companies that had the ambition of achieving international status.
Video courtesy: YouTube/CNETTV