Mark Zuckerberg calls Barack Obama to express frustration over NSA digital surveillance

Mark Zuckerberg has revealed he has called President Barack Obama to “express frustration” over US digital surveillance.

The 29-year-old Facebook founder said in a blog post the US government “should be the champion for the internet, not a threat”.

Mark Zuckerberg’s comments come a day after a report the NSA imitated a Facebook server to infect surveillance targets’ computers.

The NSA said the report was “inaccurate”.

Mark Zuckerberg said in September that the US “blew it” on internet spying.

He wrote on Thursday “it seems like it will take a very long time for true full reform”.

“When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we’re protecting you against criminals, not our own government,” Mark Zuckerberg said in his blog post.

“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.”

The NSA’s activities were leaked by a former contractor for the agency, Edward Snowden, last year.

Edward Snowden’s leaks have pointed to the NSA collecting phone records, tapping fiber-optic cables that carry global communications and hacking networks.

According to the documents, the agencies had “backdoor” access to the servers of nine major technology companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple.

All the companies named have denied their involvement.

The NSA called the latest claims, that it expanded surveillance by using malware, “inaccurate”.

The agency said in a statement: “The NSA uses its technical capabilities only to support lawful and appropriate foreign intelligence operations, all of which must be carried out in strict accordance with its authorities.”

White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden confirmed that the president spoke with Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday evening regarding “recent reports in the press about alleged activities by the US intelligence community”. She gave no further comment.

In his latest blog post, Mark Zuckerberg said that to keep the internet strong, “we need to keep it secure”.

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