Facebook Founder Zuckerberg Calls President Obama, Condemns NSA Spying
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook and one of the major figures in the computer industry, revealed on this day that he had called President Barack Obama to condemn spying by the National Security Agency (NSA).
The call was prompted by the continued revelations about NSA spying and the resulting violations of the privacy of tens of millions of Americans since June 5, 2013, when the first stories based on documents stolen and released by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden appeared.
Zuckerberg: “I’ve called President Obama to express my frustration over the damage the government is creating for all of our future. Unfortunately, it seems like it will take a very long time for true full reform . . . The Internet is our shared space. It helps us connect. It spreads opportunity. . . This is why I’ve been so confused and frustrated by the repeated reports of the behavior of the U.S. government. When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we’re protecting you against criminals, not our own government.”
Read the best book on President Obama and the war on terrorism: Charlie Savage, Power Wars: Inside Obama’s Post-9/11 Presidency (2015)
Learn more about the Snowden revelations about the NSA spying: Luke Harding, The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man (2014)