Google's Drummond calls for new NSA reforms By Adam Blenford

BBC News Published duration 27 January 2014

media caption David Drummond, Google Chief Legal Officer on Edward Snowden's revelations that the NSA hacked Google data: "I was shocked, surprised and outraged"

Moves by US President Barack Obama to rein in spies at the National Security Agency do not go far enough, a senior figure at Google has told the BBC.

David Drummond, the tech giant's chief legal officer, said the US needed to change its approach to intelligence to restore trust in the internet.

His comments are some of the first by a senior tech figure since a speech by the US president earlier this month.

They come as ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden gave his first TV interview.

Mr Snowden, who has been in exile in Russia since leaking the information that lifted the lid on the scale of US and UK intelligence programmes, told Germany's public broadcaster ARD that the NSA practised "industrial espionage".

He said the agency would spy on big German companies that competed with US firms.

Mr Snowden, 30, also said he believed that US officials wanted to kill him.

Innovation concern

Google's Mr Drummond described Mr Obama's high-profile speech on intelligence, delivered on 17 January at the Department of Justice in Washington, as a "positive step".

But he said the president's proposals - which mainly focused on limiting the mass collection of phone call information, or metadata - were not enough.

"Let me be clear about it, in general they fall short of where any of the speech and the proposal and the speech fell short of where we'd like to see this go," Mr Drummond said.

"But I think it was a first step for the administration, it's not the final word on where this will go, hopefully, we intend to be very engaged in that debate."

Almost eight months of leaks by Mr Snowden have focused attention on the large-scale collection of phone call, SMS and internet data by the NSA and by GCHQ in the UK.

The leaks have worried tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft, who are concerned that public trust in their services has been undermined by the US government.

"People really need to trust the internet and to trust internet companies and that really underpins a lot of the innovation," Mr Drummond said.

"We've been concerned about the long-term user trust in the internet and what that means for acceptance for new innovations," he added.

image copyright AP image caption Firms like Google and Yahoo say they have been outraged by allegations of NSA spying

"If you build something great but people are worried or won't try it because they're afraid, then it's not going to work."

Separately, the politician responsible for piloting a new European data protection law described Mr Snowden's leaks as a "wake-up call" to the world that had undermined trust between Europe and the US.

media caption EU Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding: "Edward Snowden was a wake-up call because we were not aware of the volume of data that was being collected"

But EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding told the BBC that after two years of negotiations with the US over European efforts to update legal safeguards for EU citizens and companies exchanging data with the US, politicians in Washington were now starting to hear her message.

"I have been speaking with the Attorney General, Eric Holder, and we are working to see what regulations in the United States can be changed so there is reciprocity and we can finalise this much-needed regulation on both sides of the Atlantic for exchanging data," Ms Reding said.

She said Mr Obama would meet European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso on 26 March, adding that she expected concrete achievements by then.

"Our American partners always told us that data protection was something dear to the heart of the Europeans but nobody cares in the United States. I think that recently people in the US also care - members of Congress, senators as well."

Snowden: 'I sleep well'

Mr Snowden's interview with German broadcaster ARD was his first on-camera interview since revealing himself last June as the source of the NSA leaks.

media caption Brazil resident: "If the government is allowed to spy on people, we should be allowed to spy on the government"

Since being offered temporary asylum in Russia, Mr Snowden has given just one major interview, to the Washington Post shortly before Christmas. He has also answered email questions submitted to him by some journalists.

Last week he answered questions on a website called Free Snowden.

ARD said they had carried out a six-hour interview that was filmed in a Moscow hotel suite, airing 40 minutes of the footage.

He suggested the NSA spied on companies of interest to US national interests, as well as its stated core mission of national security.

"If there's information at Siemens that's beneficial to US national interests - even if it doesn't have anything to do with national security - then they'll take that information nevertheless," Mr Snowden said.

He also discussed reports of threats to his life, describing them as "significant" but saying: "I sleep very well."

"These people, and they are government officials, have said they would love to put a bullet in my head or poison me when I come out of the supermarket and then watch me die in the shower," he said, referring to anonymous quotes on US website BuzzFeed

image copyright AFP image caption Mr Snowden's defenders say his leaks were in the public interest but many Americans consider him a traitor

"I'm still alive and don't lose sleep for what I did because it was the right thing to do."

Mr Snowden's leaks caused outrage in Germany when it came to light that Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone had been bugged.

After the news broke last year, Mrs Merkel accused the US of an unacceptable breach of trust.

Last week President Obama indicated to Germany's ZDF TV that US bugging of Mrs Merkel's mobile phone had been a mistake and would not happen again.

The US has charged Mr Snowden with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence.