Obama meets tech giants to discuss concerns over NSA surveillance

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Eric Schmidt invited to Oval Office amid frustration over lack of action

Executives of several large US internet companies, including Facebook Inc and Google, met President Barack Obama on Friday to discuss their concerns over government surveillance programs.

Obama and senior aides met six tech executives to discuss issues surrounding intelligence, technology and privacy, the White House said in a statement following the meeting.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, the world's largest Internet search engine; Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook, the world's biggest social network; and Reed Hastings, chief executive officer of Netflix Inc, an online video streaming service, were among those attending the meeting, the White House said.

Other attendees are Aaron Levie and Drew Houston, chief executive officers of two online storage and file-sharing companies Box and Dropbox; and Alex Karp, chief executive officer of Palantir Technologies, a data-mining company which is partly backed by the CIA and whose clients include the National Security Agency.

The president sought to provide reassurances that the administration is putting in place reforms to intelligence collection after revelations of widespread collection of data stirred outrage.

"The president reiterated his administration's commitment to taking steps that can give people greater confidence that their rights are being protected while preserving important tools that keep us safe," the White House said.

But Facebook's Zuckerberg, a public critic of government data gathering practices, said that more needed to be done.

"While the U.S. government has taken helpful steps to reform its surveillance practices, these are simply not enough," he said through a spokesperson.

"People around the globe deserve to know that their information is secure and Facebook will keep urging the U.S. government to be more transparent about its practices and more protective of civil liberties," he said.

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/22/obama-facebook-google-nsa-concers-zuckerberg-schmidt