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The US government's right to snoop on its own citizens has gone too far, favouring the state over the individual and it's time to change. So say a whole host of technology companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter and Google, they've put their fierce rivalry aside and signed a letter to the US president and Congress arguing that current surveillance practices undermine the freedom of people. The key is in the timing of course. The letter comes after recent leaks detailed the extent of American government's surveillance programmes. Well, Paul Bernal is a lecturer in information technology and media law at the University of East Anglia here in the UK. What does he make of the technology companies' letter to the US Congress and the American president? It's very good as far as it goes but it does miss one rather crucial point which is that the people who are doing the most surveillance aren't really the NSA or GCHQ or anyone like that. They're these tech companies themselves. There's no one who spies as much as Google, Facebook and so on. Then I suppose they would say "Well we only do it for commercial reasons. We're just trying to tailor our product better to the people who are using it, whereas the NSA does it for security reasons and it's pretty much more indiscriminate. Yeah, they might say that. I mean they would say that but in different ways. Each side has an argument. The NSA would say we're doing it for your good, for your security, whereas Google, Facebook and all the other commercial enterprises, ultimately the real reason they do it is for their own commercial benefit. | 
