Tech companies alleged to be partnering with the U.S. government in a mass Internet surveillance program are losing business, AFP reports.
“The Cloud Security Alliance said 10 percent of its non-US members have cancelled a contract with a US-based cloud provider, and 56 percent said they were less likely to use an American company,” said the publication.
The survey was conducted online between June 25 and July 9.
Four-hundred fifty-six responses — half of which were outside from outside of the U.S. — were submitted from Cloud Security Alliance’s member base, which “includes some 48,000 individual members and corporations involved in security and other Internet-based businesses.”
The companies repeatedly denied participating in the PRISM Internet surveillance program first revealed in June by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
Still, that did not stop further reports from confirming negotiations and arrangements made between the U.S. government and major technology companies.
The Guardian reported on July 10 that web traffic for DuckDuckGo immediately increased on July 6 after Snowden’s revelations began being published by The Guardian and The Washington Post.
DuckDuckGo is a search engine that allows users to browse anonymously by default.