Government Surveillance: Why Transparency Matters

Matthew Prince, Co-Founder and CEO of CloudFlare, expresses concern over the secrecy surrounding government internet surveillance programs. He calls for a public debate on the extent to which governments should surveil the internet but emphasizes that first, there needs to be an understanding of the current state of affairs. Prince criticizes how internet giants are muzzled from disclosing information about legal orders they receive and highlights CloudFlare's commitment to fighting for its customers' rights. He encourages more companies to join in advocating for greater transparency around national security-related requests by the US government. The letter, signed by over 40 companies and organizations, urges the US government to allow internet service providers to regularly report statistics reflecting the number of government requests for information about their users under specific legal authorities.