Google: Gmail users ‘have no legitimate expectation of privacy’

Google has finally admitted they don't respect privacy. People should take them at their word; if you care about your email correspondents' privacy don't use Gmail.

US Damage Control: NSA claims “only touches” 1.6% of internet traffic

The NSA has alleged it monitors only 1.6 percent of web traffic, contradicting claims of a sweeping spy network. A report released by the White House justifies NSA snooping as essential for national security, but neglects to expand on any details.

Venezuela Condemns U.S. Spying Beyond its Borders, lodges complaint at UN

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua condemned the U.S. government’s spying program and said he considered “serious” the fact that this measure has been extended beyond U.S. borders.

German justice minister demands answers on BND’s role in U.S. spying

German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has asked the country's foreign intelligence service (BND) to provide a full explanation after it confirmed that it passed on data to the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).

US’ NSA pays £100M in secret funding for UK’s GCHQ

The US government has paid at least £100m to the UK spy agency GCHQ over the last three years to secure access to and influence over Britain's intelligence gathering programmes.

Putin: US scared countries, Snowden will leave Russia at earliest opportunity

NSA-leaker Edward Snowden will leave Russia as soon as he gets such opportunity, but for now the situation is unclear. America scared other countries that is why no one wants to accept him says Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Greenwald: Snowden has enough info to cause US govt ‘worst damage in history’

Former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden possesses dangerous information which could potentially lead to America's “worst nightmare” if it is revealed, according to the journalist who first published Snowden's leaked documents.

Hotmail, Skype, Outlook: How Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages

Microsoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users' communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company's own encryption, according to top-secret documents. Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal and access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail. In July 2012, nine months after Microsoft bought Skype, the NSA boasted that a new capability had tripled the amount of Skype video calls being collected through PRISM. The company also worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide.

Australia: Telstra signed deal that would have allowed US spying

Australian telco company, Telstra, agreed to allow US government to store information on communications between US and other countries. Telstra agreed to complete a compliance report every year and report every three months which could not be accessed using freedom of information laws.

Team Telecom: Agreements with private companies protect U.S. access to cables’ data for surveillance

The U.S. government had a problem: Spying in the digital age required access to the fiber-optic cables traversing the world’s oceans, carrying torrents of data at the speed of light. And one of the biggest operators of those cables was being sold to an Asian firm, potentially complicating American surveillance efforts. Meet “Team Telecom.”

French lawsuit targets NSA, FBI, tech firms over Prism

Two human rights groups have filed a lawsuit in Paris targeting the U.S. National Security Agency, the FBI and seven technology companies (Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Paltalk, Facebook, AOL and Apple) who violated French privacy laws by secretly collecting massive amounts of personal data.

FISA: U.S. Secret Court Helps NSA Avoid Warrants, Radically Expands Spying Powers

The court overseeing National Security Agency surveillance has given the government power to amass vast collections of data on Americans by creating a secret body of law with almost no public scrutiny.