Tech

Zuckerberg: We should only have to protect against criminals, ‘not our own government’

Giuseppe Macri Tech Editor
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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took to his world-leading social media platform Thursday to criticize the U.S. government for compromising the security and privacy of the Internet as a whole, and forcing companies like Facebook to defend against both criminals and the state itself.

“We work together to create this secure environment and make our shared space even better for the world,” Zuckerberg said in a message posted on Facebook Thursday. “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.”

Zuckerberg asserted that by not being transparent, the government was inadvertently leading citizens to suspect the worst about its secret surveillance programs and practices.

“The U.S. government should be the champion for the internet, not a threat,” Zuckerberg said.

In the post, Zuckerberg said he had personally called President Barack Obama to express his frustration about the damage he believes the government is doing “to all of our future,” but said he expected “true full reform” was a long time away.

“So it’s up to us – all of us – to build the internet we want,” Zuckerberg said. “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. I’m committed to seeing this happen, and you can count on Facebook to do our part.”

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