NSa hacked yahoo, google

The NSA has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, a newspaper reported, citing documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

A secret accounting dated on Jan 9, 2013, indicates that NSA sends millions of records every day from Yahoo and Google internal networks to data warehouses at the agency's Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

In the last 30 days, field collectors had processed and sent back more than 180 million new records - ranging from "metadata," which indicates who sends or receives e-mails and when, to content such as text, audio and video, the Post reported.

The latest revelations were met with outrage from Google, and triggered legal questions, including whether the NSA may be violating federal wiretap laws.

"Although there's a diminished standard of legal protection for interception that occurs overseas, the fact that it was directed apparently to Google's cloud and Yahoo's cloud.

AP

(China Daily 11/01/2013 page11)