Latest NSA Overreach Awakens Tech Giants In Washington

The most recent round of National Security Agency revelations have prompted major tech firms to publicly take a stronger stance against government surveillance activities, an escalation that could portend a shift in the way Silicon Valley does business in Washington.

A group of six tech behemoths—Google, Yahoo, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and America Online—sent a letter to lawmakers last week calling for legislation to curtail the NSA's authority. The companies specifically championed the Freedom Act, introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and former House Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., with support from more than 80 cosponsors, for "making an important contribution to this discussion."

The letter came in the wake of new details about NSA surveillance in The Washington Post, which reported about a program dubbed MUSCULAR that secretly breaks into the online communication channels of Google and Yahoo, scooping up millions of records every day.