Tech companies have continued their push for more transparency. | REUTERS PRISM casts new light on tech

Tech companies, floored by the initial revelations about their part in the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, responded by denying specific details in carefully worded statements — and pushing for more government transparency about national security requests.

Now, the seven companies named in leaked documents remain on the edge of their seats as they wait for the next chapters in the PRISM story. Plenty is still unresolved, and what happens next may affect the industry for years to come. Here’s a look at five big questions for tech.


1. Are further revelations coming?

The companies want to avoid what happened to Microsoft earlier this month, when a new story in The Guardian provided specific details about the software giant’s work with the government on surveillance.

The story, attributed to information leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, described how the company helped the NSA circumvent encryption on Outlook.com Web chats, enable access to its SkyDrive cloud storage service and collect Skype conversations.

Are more stories coming on Apple, Google, Facebook and others?

A Microsoft representative issued a lengthy statement after the report, saying the company provides customer data “only in response to legal processes” and “examines all demands very closely, and we reject them if we believe they aren’t valid.”

But the report’s granular details came as a blow to the company, which has touted its privacy policies as being stronger than other tech giants’. And it raised the possibility that other firms could face similar — highly specific — disclosures.

2. Will the government concede on transparency?

The tech companies have pushed the government to let them reveal more about the national security data requests they receive to help combat the impression that they are willing servants to the U.S. surveillance effort.

It’s part of an effort to reassure their user base. “Companies are persuaded that more transparency would build more trust and trust is good for business,” said Gregory Nojeim, director of the Project on Freedom, Security and Technology for the Center for Democracy & Technology.

The government has allowed certain companies to publish aggregate information about national security requests along with local, state and federal requests. But many argued this disclosure, lumped as it was with a lot of other data, just further obscured the PRISM program and the extent of surveillance.

The companies have continued their push for more transparency. Google and Microsoft have petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow them to disclose specific information about FISA court orders.

The Justice Department now has until July 30 to respond.

3. Will companies press Congress to curb PRISM?

While making the case for more transparency, the tech industry so far hasn’t made a big lobbying push to change laws that govern the PRISM surveillance program.

The companies have largely avoided pushing for restrictions on the government’s ability to collect Internet communications. Only Facebook and Microsoft mentioned related laws in their most recent lobbying reports.

That modest activity contrasts to tech industry lobbying on other hot-button issues, including immigration and cybersecurity reform.

Will Big Tech use the tactical lessons it’s learned during the fight over immigration reform in Congress and apply those to surveillance laws? If the industry chooses to engage lawmakers on NSA programs, it would certainly add a new dimension to the debate on Capitol Hill.

Companies including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo have lobbied on individual pieces of privacy legislation, including reforms to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to tighten law enforcement access to emails.

4. Will there be a global backlash?

In Europe, PRISM is creating headaches for tech companies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for an international electronic data protection agreement, and the issue emerged in trade agreement negotiations between the European Union and the U.S.

The revelations have heightened calls for separate European technology and services, particularly cloud computing, Neelie Kroes, vice president of the European Commission responsible for the digital agenda, said in a speech earlier this month. Kroes warned that European policymakers may put “security guarantees ahead of open markets, with consequences for American companies.”

When it comes to U.S. companies’ business overseas, “long term, the potential impact is quite large,” said Daniel Castro, a senior analyst with the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. Countries may enact anti-competitive trade laws, such as requiring that their citizens’ data be stored inside the country and restricting companies based in the U.S., he said.

That could hit tech companies that do a large amount of business in Europe and other international markets.

5. Will PRISM hit companies’ bottom line?

Many tech firms reported quarterly earnings this month without mentioning the PRISM issue.

Meanwhile, smaller companies have advertised their encryption or privacy policies and services as a way to undercut larger competitors caught up in the surveillance story, though there’s no sign yet they’ve made significant inroads.

Paltalk, a little-known group video chat company, has been able to leverage its PRISM connection for more publicity. The 14-year-old company, which was named in reports as taking part in the Internet surveillance program, was mentioned on “The Colbert Report” and has seen a surge in usage.

How consumers ultimately react to the NSA scandal — and whether they change their Internet habits — isn’t clear yet.

About half of Americans said the NSA surveillance of phone records and Internet activity intrudes upon their own personal privacy rights, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted July 18-21.