The U.S. National Security Agency is facing new accusations that it secretly broke into communication networks used by Internet giants Google and Yahoo to move data around the world.
In a report published Wednesday, the Washington Post said it learned of the classified NSA program from documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and from interviews with “knowledgeable officials.”
The report said the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ run a project called MUSCULAR, which taps into fiber-optic cables carrying data between global facilities of Google and Yahoo. It said that allows the spying agencies to copy entire data flows, including the content of text, audio and video files.
Google and Yahoo issued statements saying they have not authorized the alleged tapping of their communication links.
The NSA already requests and obtains data from U.S. Internet companies such as Google and Yahoo by seeking court orders through a program called PRISM.
NSA chief General Keith Alexander said Wednesday the spy agency does not enter Google and Yahoo servers. Speaking to reporters at a Washington conference, he said the NSA gains access to data by “court order.”
