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REPORT: The Federal Government Wants To Know Your Account Passwords

Jul 26, 2013, 19:27 IST

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The federal government has made legal requests to more than one major internet company for the passwords to users' accounts, according to CNET.

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The report is frustratingly thin on details.

But it represents an even worse scenario than the one posited by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, who claimed the feds have a program named PRISM that gives them access to the servers of Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other major web providers. The companies have denied that such a program exists, saying they only respond to specific legal requests about individuals.

Legal demands for password, as reported by CNET, go beyond the mere one-time production of data from a users' account, of course. On Google, for instance, once someone has the password to your Gmail account they've got lengthy access to your calendar, search history, Drive docs, Gmail chats, and maybe your Google+ account.

CNET reports the unnamed companies have pushed back on the demands.

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