News: Zuckerberg Phones Obama: Keep the Internet Secure

Mark Zuckerberg recently complained to President Barack Obama about what he termed the “damage” being caused by U.S. government data-gathering efforts, the FacebookFB -2.89% founder and CEO wrote Thursday.
“The US government should be the champion for the Internet, not a threat,” Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page. “They need to be much more transparent about what they’re doing, or otherwise people will believe the worst.”
Zuckerberg’s post adds to recent tensions between Washington and Silicon Valley over the government’s electronic-surveillance programs. Tech-industry executives say revelations from documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have hurt their standing with users, particularly outside the U.S.
“The Chinese hacked us in 2010. The NSA hacked us in 2013,” GoogleGOOG -1.51% Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt told an audience at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, last week.

Facebook and Google rely on trust from users, as they gather personal data in order to sell targeted advertisements.
Zuckerberg did not cite specific government actions in his post. However, website The Intercept on Wednesday reported, based on documents from Snowden, that the NSA has a program to mimic Facebook servers in order to gain access to the computers of intelligence targets. Thursday, the NSA called the report “inaccurate.”
In his post, Zuckerberg wrote that he had 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.”
Zuckerberg said Facebook has been working to make its services more secure by encrypting data. “The Internet works because most people and companies do the same,” he wrote. “Together, we can build a space that is greater and a more important part of the world than anything we have today, but is also safe and secure.”

Here is Zuckerberg’s full post:

Post by Mark Zuckerberg.