Governments often request basic subscriber information, IP addresses or account content, including people's posts online
United States President Barack Obama may cancel his scheduled visit to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, as tension builds up between the two countries over fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, according to media reports.
American whistleblower Edward Snowden, currently sheltered in the transit zone of Moscow airport, has sought asylum in 20 countries, including India.
United States intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has accused President Barack Obama of denying him his right to asylum, in a statement, a first since flying to Russia on June 23, published by Wikileaks.
He also said the government should reform its policy to safeguard privacy of its citizens.
'The Lashkar-e-Tayiba has always been sensitive about how it is perceived internationally,' says Stephen Tankel, discussing PRISM, the Lashkar's presence in Myanmar and Mohammad Saeed's recent dare with Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
Government personnel have been barred from using private e-mail services for official communications.
The Nobel committee in its citation said it had awarded Santos the prize for "his resolute efforts to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, a war that has cost the lives of at least 220 000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people".
Rediff.com takes a look at some personalities who are likely to win the prize this year.
A controversial United States surveillance programme that sweeps Internet usage data had 700 snooping servers installed at 150 locations around the world, including one in India, according to a report.
A controversial American surveillance programme that sweeps Internet usage data had 700 snooping servers installed at 150 locations around the world, including one in India, according to a report.
While officials in Austria and Bolivia denied Snowden's presence after France and Portugal refused to let it cross their airspace, an irked Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said that the authorities do not know who raised the false alarm adding that Bolivia denounces to the international community this injustice with the President's plane, Fox News reports.
Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who disclosed America's secret surveillance programme, may have been working with the Chinese government to reveal intelligence secrets, a US lawmaker has alleged.
Reacting strongly to reports of Bharatiya Janata Party being spied upon by US National Security Agency, India on Wednesday summoned a top US diplomat in New Delhi to raise the issue, saying it was "totally unacceptable" that an Indian organisation or Indian individual's privacy was transgressed upon.
Microsoft received over 400 requests from India last year for inquiries regarding criminal activity, affecting nearly 600 different accounts, according to the American tech giant.
However, requests made by the Indian government in both the email and Skype categories are far less than that of other countries.
Edward Snowden, the American National Security Agency whistleblower whose unprecedented leak of top-secret documents led to a worldwide debate about the nature of surveillance, insisted on Monday that his actions had improved the national security of the United States rather than undermined it, and declared that he would do it all again despite the personal sacrifices he had endured, Guardian reported.
The United States National Security Agency has sent some staffers home because of the government shutdown despite crucial security services being exempted from the shuttering of offices due to lack of funds.
An program by the National Security Agency, which uses metadata and learning algorithms to select targets for drone strikes, may be targetting thousands of innocent people, a report has said.
The Obama administration has asked Russia to "expel" fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden "without delay", even as it agreed with the Russian President Vladimir Putin that the two countries should avoid a diplomatic showdown over the issue.
The two leaders said they would work to "bring them (bilateral ties) to the framework of constructive cooperation.
Pope Francis has been named Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2013.
Apple, along with other technology companies, is allowed only to report such numbers in increments of 1,000
The United States has dismissed reports that President Barack Obama was informed about the tapping of Angela Merkel's mobile phone, even as an American daily on Monday said that spying of as many as 35 world leaders, including the German chancellor, ended when it was brought to his notice.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden's presence at the airport in Moscow but has refused to hand over him to the United State authorities.
White House ruled out a similar consideration for Edward Snowden, who is currently on a political asylum in Russia.
If the US's National Security Agency is to be believed, as early as 2008 a probe into the porn viewing habits of terrorists revealed that coded messages were being sent through porn videos.
'Handled poorly, it could either lead to a witch-hunt in organisations that is fertile soil for yes-men; or lead to even bona fide decisions and entire organisational systems being held to ransom,' says Somasekhar Sundaresan.
President Barack Obama has denied that the United States has a domestic spying programme but said the work done by the National Security Agency is a "critical component" in keeping the country safe from outside threats.
United States technology companies have become the command and control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals, one of Britain's senior-most intelligence chiefs has warned and sought their cooperation in intelligence matters to tackle the menace.
A defiant United States President Barack Obama has dismissed mounting criticism over whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations of US surveillance on many nations including India, saying all countries routinely spy on others.
The White House has not spelt out regulatory or legislative steps.
Snooping is one of the oldest peccadilloes of man, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Germany has accused the United States of lying about its surveillance operations in the European country and claimed there are "new indications" that Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone was monitored by the Americans.
The state visit of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to the US next month has been postponed following the concerns being raised by Brazil with regard to the secretive surveillance programme of NSA as revealed by classified documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
Germany's two main intelligence services used a special surveillance programme of the United States to collect vast amounts of communications data, even as the government continued to deny prior knowledge of such operations, a report claimed on Sunday.
Nineteen US organisations have filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency, claiming that its secretive internet and telephone surveillance program violates the constitution.
'Analysts see BECA as a 'force multiplier' for India.' 'But China too is known to have such capabilities.' 'The military gap with China will continue to remain a fact of life, BECA notwithstanding,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
In a bid to allay global outrage after the leak of the United States snooping programme, President Barack Obama has put an end to the surveillance of "foreign leaders of friendly nations" but ruled out scrapping the controversial programme altogether.
The US-based firm, however said it does not have any direct evidence of customer data being breached illegally by the government.
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