Executives for the nation's largest technology companies met with President Obama this morning to argue that the NSA's unchecked surveillance is harming their businesses and the overall economic environment in which they operate.

CEOs from over 15 companies – including Google, Apple and Microsoft – pressed for the president to rein in the NSA's bulk surveillance activities and expressed anger over the government's infiltration of U.S. servers around the world.

During the meeting, Mark Pincus (founder of Zynga) boldly suggested to Obama before the gathered group that Edward Snowden should be pardoned. Pincus, it is important to note, gave $1 million to Obama's Super PAC, Priorities Action USA.

Obama's response: he could not do so.

This suggestion by Zynga's founder represented the tenor of a meeting which came on the heels of a federal judge ruling that the NSA's bulk phone collection is unconstitutional. And while nobody else was so bold as to suggest Snowden's pardon, as reported by The Washington Post, the meeting's central message was blunt:



Their message was to say: “What the hell are you doing? Are you really hacking into the infrastructure of American companies overseas? The same American companies that cooperate with your lawful orders and spend a lot of money to comply with them to facilitate your intelligence collection?” said one industry official familiar with the companies’ views.

While it's clear Obama heard their message loud and clear, it remains to be seen whether such influential industry leaders (and campaign contributors) will be able to influence an administration which has, as of yet, refused to budge on the matter of the NSA's surveillance activities.

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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, just out from Oneworld Publications.

Follow @David_EHG



