Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has thrown his support behind user privacy, even calling US President Barack Obama to complain about the government’s online surveillance programmes.
Writing on the official Facebook blog, Zuckerberg expresses frustration at the US government’s behaviour in terms of Internet privacy, outlining how he called President Obama.
“To keep the Internet strong, we need to keep it secure,” he writes, “That’s why at Facebook we spend a lot of our energy making our services and the whole Internet safer and more secure.
“The Internet works because most people and companies do the same. We work together to create this secure environment and make our shared space even better for the world.
“This is why I’ve been so confused and frustrated by the repeated reports of the behaviour of the US government. When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we’re protecting you against criminals, not our own government.
“The US government should be the champion for the Internet, not a threat. They need to be much more transparent about what they’re doing, or otherwise people will believe the worst.
“I’ve 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 ends his blog by calling on all Internet users to get involved. “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.”
