Consumer Watchdog asked (on Monday) the chairman of the House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee to investigate contracts at several U.S. agencies for Google technology and
services. They claim there is a "secretive" relationship between Google and the U.S. National
Security Agency, and the company has privileged use of a U.S. National Aeronautics and Space
Administration airfield in California.
Google first established a partnership with the NSA back in February of 2010 due to cyber hacking
(originating in China) which targeted Google source code and extended to more than 30 other large
tech, defense, energy, financial and media companies. The Gmail accounts of human rights activists
in Europe, China and the United States were also compromised. Anonymous sources say the alliance
is designed to allow the two organizations to share critical information without violating Google's
policies or laws that protect the privacy of Americans' online communications. The sources said the
deal does not mean the NSA will be viewing users' searches or e-mail accounts or that Google will be
sharing proprietary data.
Source 1, Source 2
