Google and Facebook say on-campus workers must be vaccinated

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Google and Facebook on Wednesday said workers returning to offices will need to be vaccinated against Covid-19, in the latest move by firms and US government agencies.

Spikes in infections due to a Delta variant of the virus have ramped up concerns in the United States, where 611,000 people have died in the pandemic.

Google will make campuses off-limits to unvaccinated employees and extend its global work-from-home option through October 18, according to chief executive Sundar Pichai.

"Anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated," Pichai said in a blog post.

"We're rolling this policy out in the United States in the coming weeks and will expand to other regions in the coming months."

Implementation will be adapted to local conditions, including vaccine availability, according to the Silicon Valley-based tech titan.

"I hope these steps will give everyone greater peace of mind as offices reopen," Pichai said.

"Seeing Googlers together in the offices these past few weeks filled me with optimism, and I'm looking forward to brighter days ahead."

Google and Facebook were among companies worldwide that abandoned campuses early last year, letting people work remotely rather than risk exposure to Covid-19 in offices.

Google has been paying the salaries of campus workers unable to do their jobs because of closed offices, and helping employees get access to vaccines, according to Pichai.

"Even as the virus continues to surge in many parts of the world, it’s encouraging to see very high vaccination rates for our Google community in areas where vaccines are widely available," Pichai said.

"This is a big reason why we felt comfortable opening some of our offices to employees who wanted to return early."

Tech titan Facebook put out similar word on Wednesday, saying that as its offices re-open, only vaccinated workers will be welcomed.

"We will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated," Facebook vice president of people Lori Goler said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"We will have a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons and will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves."

Many unions and critics of mandates have spoken out against required vaccinations, citing personal freedom arguments.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday that a vaccine mandate for America's more than two million federal workers was under consideration.

California and New York City announced that official workers would need to get vaccinated or take weekly tests.

Agence France-Presse

G20 eyes taxing tech giants in bid for $100 billion boost

RIYADH - Leading world economies must show unity in dealing with aggressive "tax optimization" by global digital giants like Google, Amazon and Facebook, G20 officials said on Saturday.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is developing global rules to make digital companies pay tax where they do business, rather than where they register subsidiaries. The OECD says this could boost national tax revenues by a total of $100 billion a year.

The call for unity appeared directed mainly at the United States, home to the biggest tech companies, in an attempt to head off any stalling on the rules until after the US presidential election in November.

"There is no time to wait for elections," German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz told a tax seminar on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers.

"This needs leadership in certain countries," Scholz said, looking directly at U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, sitting next to him at the seminar.

The taxing of digital firms and the effect of the coronavirus outbreak on the global economy are among the hot topics being debated by G20 financial leaders, from the world's 20 largest economies, during their talks in Riyadh this weekend.

The OECD wants to set a minimum effective level at which such companies would be taxed and seeks agreement by the start of July, with an endorsement by the G20 by the end of the year.

"A coordinated answer is not the better way forward, but, given the alternatives, the only way forward," OECD head Angel Gurria told the seminar.

A draft G20 communique, seen by Reuters, showed financial leaders will endorse the OECD approach to the issue in their final statement on Sunday, backing the need pay tax where business is conducted and the need for a minimum rate.

They will also "reaffirm commitment to reach a consensus-based solution by end of 2020".

The OECD efforts were stalled late last year by last-minute changes demanded by Washington, which many G20 officials view as reluctant to deal with a potentially politically tricky matter before the presidential election.

Mnuchin said OECD countries were close to an agreement on the minimum tax level, which he said would also go a long way to resolving the issue of where tax is paid, although he warned that some aspects of the tax proposal could require approval by the U.S. Congress.

"I think we all want to get this done by the end of the year, and that's the objective," Mnuchin told the seminar.

Mnuchin sought to reassure G20 delegates that a US proposal to add a "safe harbor" regime to the tax reform effort - which has drawn criticism from France and other countries - would not let companies simply opt-out of paying taxes.

"It's not an optional tax," he said. "You pay the safe harbor as opposed to paying something else. People may pay a little bit more in a safe harbor knowing they have tax certainty."

US officials say their proposal would help address lawmakers' concerns and smooth passage of legislation that might be required for US implementation of new global tax rules. In essence, they argue, it would allow a multinational enterprise to elect to pay more foreign tax in exchange for better terms in the event of disputes over taxes, and easier administrative procedures.

But many questions remain.

MORE CLARITY NEEDED

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters it remained unclear exactly what the U.S. proposal would entail.

"We're still in the process of assessing what it really means," he said, adding, "It's not a non-starter for the French government. It's fair and useful to give all the attention to this new proposal."

European Union Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told Reuters there was still hard work ahead.

"It’s good that there is a commitment to find a solution, but ... it’s not there," he said, adding that he would meet with Mnuchin for bilateral talks later Saturday.

Scholz told reporters Germany remained skeptical. "I think we shouldn't start with letting companies choose which taxes they want to pay. This is leading to nowhere," he said.

Several European countries, including France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Britain and Hungary either already have a plan for a digital tax or are working on one, creating the risk of a highly fragmented global system.

"You cannot have in a global economy different national tax systems that conflict with each other," Mnuchin said.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Feb. 14 he would be ready to pay more tax in Europe and would welcome a global OECD solution that would make the levies uniform. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

New Zealand wants answers from tech giants after mosque attack livestream

WELLINGTON -- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Sunday said she would be looking for answers from Facebook and other social media firms about how an attack that killed 50 mosque-goers was livestreamed on their platforms.

Saying there were "further questions to be answered" by the tech giants, Ardern said Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg had been in contact and "acknowledged what has occurred here in New Zealand".

A horrific video shot by the gunmen who carried out the mosque massacre was livestreamed on Facebook before being removed by the company.

But the stream, lasting 17 minutes, was shared repeatedly on YouTube and Twitter, and internet platforms were scrambling to remove videos being reposted of the gruesome scenes.

"We did as much as we could to remove, or seek to have removed, some of the footage that was being circulated in the aftermath of this terrorist attack," Ardern said.

"But ultimately it has been up to those platforms to facilitate their removal."

"I do think that there are further questions to be answered."

In a statement on Sunday, Mia Garlick of Facebook New Zealand vowed to "work around the clock to remove violating content".

"In the first 24 hours we removed 1.5 million videos of the attack globally, of which over 1.2 million were blocked at upload," the company said.

Ardern was joined by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in expressing doubts that current rules go far enough.

Morrison said that social media companies had "co-operated" since the attack.

"But I sadly have to say that the capacity to actually assist fully is very limited on the technology side."

He said "assurances were given" that once such content was pulled down, a regime would make sure it did not go back up. "Clearly it hasn't (happened)."

"So I think there are some very real discussions that have to be had about how these facilities and capabilities as they exist on social media, can continue to be offered."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Wall Street critic Warren vows to break up Amazon, Facebook, Google

Senator Elizabeth Warren vowed on Friday to break up Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google, and Facebook Inc if elected US president to promote competition in the tech sector.

Warren, who is seeking to stand out in a crowded field of presidential candidates, said in a blog post that on their way to the top, the big tech companies purchased a long list of potential competitors, like Facebook's acquisition of Instagram.

"They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation," Warren wrote.

Warren said that she would nominate regulators who would unwind acquisitions such as Facebook's deals for WhatsApp and Instagram, Amazon's deals for Whole Foods and Zappos, and Google's purchases of Waze, Nest and DoubleClick.

Investors shrugged off her comments, with shares in the 3 companies barely affected. Shares of Facebook and Alphabet were each down less than 0.5 percent on Friday. Amazon.com was down 0.9 percent.

It is rare for the government to seek to undo a consummated deal.

The most famous case in recent memory is the government's effort to break up Microsoft. The Justice Department won a preliminary victory in 2000 but was reversed on appeal. The case settled with Microsoft intact.

Warren also proposed legislation that would require tech companies like Google and Amazon who offer an online marketplace or exchange to refrain from competing on their own platform. This would, for example, forbid Amazon from selling on its own Amazon Marketplace platform.

Amazon and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Facebook declined to comment.

TECH UNDER FIRE

The tech companies have come under fire because of their role in displacing existing businesses. Amazon has replaced brick and mortar stores and has been criticized for its poorly-paid warehouse workers.

Facebook has angered lawmakers for losing track of users' data and for not doing more to stop foreign meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. Google has clashed with smaller companies, like Yelp, over search placements and has raised concerns it would comply with China's internet censorship and surveillance policies if it re-enters the Asian nation's search engine market.

Congress held a series of hearings last year looking at the dominance of major tech companies.

NetChoice, an e-commerce trade group whose members include Facebook and Google, said Warren's plan would lead to higher prices.

"Sen. Warren is wrong in her assertion that tech markets lack competition. Never before have consumers and workers had more access to goods, services, and opportunities online," said Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel for NetChoice.

Public Knowledge, a tech policy group, called Warren's plan a step toward protecting the next generation of businesses but stopped short of a full-throated support for breaking up the tech giants.

"We need legislation specifically targeted to enhance competition on digital platforms so that there is a real opportunity for new, innovative competitors to succeed," said Charlotte Slaiman, the group's policy counsel.

Tech expert Tim Wu, who coined the term "net neutrality" and has warned against an economy dominated by a few giant firms, tweeted that it was "heartening" to see the idea of breaking up the tech giants gaining some traction.

Tech companies are some of the biggest political donors. Google spent $21 million to lobby in 2018 while Amazon spent $14.2 million and Facebook spent $12.62 million, according to their filings to US Congress.

Angering a deep-pocketed industry could hurt Democrats.

Warren made her political mark by going after big banks after the 2007-2009 financial crisis. In the Senate, Warren continues to be an outspoken critic of Wall Street and is a leader of her party's progressive wing.

Other candidates have also criticized the tech firms.

Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota used her presidential campaign launch speech to vow action on digital issues like privacy, saying "big tech companies" misuse personal data.

Vermont's Bernie Sanders, another presidential candidate, in 2018 even named a bill after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the Stop BEZOS Act, which would tax big companies if their employees receive public benefits.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Saudi defends app allowing men to monitor women relatives

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia on Saturday defended a mobile app that allows men in the kingdom to track female relatives after rights groups and a US lawmaker criticized tech giants for offering it.

The Absher app provides services for "all members of the society... including women, the elderly, and people with special needs", the interior ministry said.

The free app is available on Android and Apple smartphones and allows users to renew passports, visas and eases a variety of other electronic services.

But critics have said the app enables abuse against women and girls by allowing men to track their movements.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told US National Public Radio earlier this week he had not heard of the app, but would "take a look at it".

US Senator Ron Wyden has called on both Apple and Google to remove the app, arguing on Twitter that it promotes "abusive practices against women".

Under Saudi law, women must have consent from a husband or immediate male relative to renew passports or leave the country.

The ministry criticized what it called a "systematic campaign aimed at questioning the purpose of the services".

It rejected what it described as "attempts to politicize" the tool.

This comes as Saudi Arabia faces intense scrutiny over the shocking murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year, which has renewed criticism of the kingdom's rights record.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has garnered international attention with his rapid rise to power and promise of social and economic reforms.

But the kingdom has detained a number of human rights and women campaigners, some of them accused of undermining national security, with scant public information about their whereabouts or the legal status of their cases.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Debate swirls as power of US tech giants grows

WASHINGTON - With a handful of US technology giants growing more powerful and dominant, debate is intensifying on whether big tech's growth is healthy or not.

Over the past few years, Apple, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook and Amazon have become among the world's most valuable companies.

Along with stalwarts like Microsoft and rising stars like Netflix, the tech firms exercise enormous control over what people see and how they live.

Increasingly, policymakers and others have begun to consider breaking up or regulating the biggest technology companies, although imminent action appears unlikely.

While many consumers welcome innovation from the tech sector, critics have complained about the power of "gatekeepers" of information and other content.

Google holds around 90 percent of the internet search market in the United States and Europe. Facebook and Google scoop up some 60 percent of digital ad revenues and are eating up 90 percent of new ad growth in the United States.

Google's Android and Apple's iOS power the overwhelming majority of mobile devices. Amazon accounts for nearly half of US online sales and is expanding into new sectors.

CONCENTRATION OF POWER

Barry Lynn, executive director of the Open Markets Institute, said three firms -- Google, Facebook and Amazon -- "have more power than any previous monopolies we've dealt with in the past century."

"We have to be incredibly concerned about the power of Facebook, Google and Amazon," said Lynn, who launched his research center last month after his team was ousted from the Google-funded New America Foundation.

"They have their hands on the flow of news, the flow of books and they are manipulating that flow in a conscious way to promote their interests."

Even though the idea of taking on the tech giants appears extreme, the upheaval in US politics over the past year has brought together allies from across the spectrum worried about their concentration of economic power.

The recently formed "New Center" political alliance that includes leaders from the traditional right and left has placed "challenging big tech" on its agenda.

Bill Galston, a former White House advisor under Bill Clinton and co-founder of New Center, argued that tech monopolies are hurting wages, entrepreneurship and could be distorting the political landscape.

"The big tech firms have almost unlimited funds they can throw into lobbying, and they have been ramping this up steeply," Galston said. "Is that a good thing for democracy?"

Lou Kerner, partner at the investment firm Flight Ventures, said this monopoly power is more concentrated than any in recent history, and expressed concern it will "strangle innovation" and increase income inequality.

But Kerner said he opposes heavy-handed regulation or breakup of the tech giants.

"By their nature regulators move slowly and by the time they address the problems they are no longer problems," Kerner said.

"Historically the market has been much better at addressing monopoly powers in technology."

REWRITING THE BOOK

Ed Black, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which represents firms including Google, Facebook and Microsoft, said breaking up the tech giants could have a "chilling effect on innovation."

"If our goal is really to maintain innovation, spur the entire economy, and grow higher paying jobs, asking the government to penalize a successful foundational economic sector, absent bad behavior or consumer harm, seems illogical," Black said.

European regulators have taken a more aggressive approach, imposing a hefty fine on Google after concluding the search giant illegally favored its own shopping services, one of three antitrust investigations into the company.

In Washington, the rise of Donald Trump suggests a possible shift in US policy after years in which Silicon Valley was seen as close to the White House.

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon said recently he was leading an effort within the administration to turn Facebook and Google into "public utilities."

But Federal Trade Commission chief Maureen Ohlhausen, who would lead any US antitrust action, signaled any effort to break up tech firms is remote.

"Given the clear consumer benefits of technology-driven innovation, I am concerned about the push to adopt an approach that will disregard consumer benefits in the pursuit of other perhaps even conflicting goals," Ohlhausen said in a speech at Georgetown University.

She said some tech critics want "to rewrite the modern rules" of antitrust enforcement to "pursue a wide variety of goals other than consumer welfare."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Global Markets: Tech sell-off weighs again on stocks, dollar slips

NEW YORK - A sell-off in Apple and other tech heavyweights dragged stocks down for a second session on Monday, while the dollar slipped ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting this week.

The technology sector rout weighed on all three major US stock indexes and raised concerns about lofty US share levels.

The Nasdaq ended down 0.5 percent after falling 1.8 percent on Friday. Apple lost 2.5 percent, though other tech giants Alphabet, Facebook and Microsoft also were down.

At the same time, energy shares added to Friday's gains, suggesting that investors were seeking value. The S&P energy index, which has had the biggest declines among sectors so far this year, ended up 0.7 percent.

"You're seeing people not want to come out of the market. They're selling what's been a winner, rotating into what's been a loser because they want to stay in the market. That's not necessarily a bullish omen because when markets are at tops, people want to stay fully invested," said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The S&P technology index ended down 0.8 percent on Monday, but well off its worst levels of the session and it remains up 17.6 percent for the year to date. The sector had ballooned to its most expensive since early 2008 in terms of price-to-earnings expectations.

The Apple-led worries had taken a heavy toll on Asian rivals, including Samsung overnight, and then hit Europe's big chipmakers STMicro and Dialog.

An ebbing of the reflation trade that was based on U.S. President Donald Trump's tax and spending promises, and a run of negative US economic surprises, have prompted some investors to review the mix of their portfolios.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 36.3 points, or 0.17 percent, to 21,235.67, the S&P 500 lost 2.38 points, or 0.10 percent, to 2,429.39 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 32.45 points, or 0.52 percent, to 6,175.47.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 1 percent, while MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe was down 0.3 percent.

In the foreign exchange market, the dollar index slipped 0.1 percent, with losses limited by investor expectations the Fed will increase US interest rates this week while other central banks, including the Bank of England and Bank of Japan, are likely to remain on hold.

The euro rose 0.1 percent against the dollar to $1.1205 after pro-European parties scored in French and Italian elections over the weekend.

The first round French parliamentary election results look set to give President Emmanuel Macron a huge majority to push through pro-business reforms, which also helped.

Oil gained on signs of inventory declines in the United States. News that Saudi Arabia will limit volumes of crude to some Asian buyers in July and deepen cuts to the United States also boosted prices.

Brent crude futures ended the session up 14 cents, or 0.3 percent at $48.29 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures gained 25 cents, or 0.6 percent, to settle at $46.08.

US Treasury yields rose after tepid demand at a 10-year Treasury auction offset strong demand at a three-year auction.

Benchmark 10-year Treasuries were last down 3/32 in price to yield 2.211 percent, from a yield of 2.199 percent late on Friday.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Apple, Google to urge Trump to alter travel order: sources

Several technology companies plan to send a letter to US President Donald Trump on Monday urging his administration to follow through on proposed changes to a travel ban on seven mainly Muslim nations, sources familiar with the letter said Sunday.

"We welcome the changes your administration has made in recent days in how the Department of Homeland Security will implement the Executive Order," according to a draft of the letter.

The technology companies expected to sign the letter include Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Twitter Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.

The sources did not want to be identified because discussions regarding the letter were ongoing.

On Jan. 27, Trump issued an executive order imposing a 90-day ban affecting citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day bar on all refugees. Those travel bans caused chaos by trapping some travelers at airports and stranding others overseas.

A federal judge on Friday put a temporary nationwide block on that week-old executive order, leading the Republican president to criticize the judge and the court system.

"We stand ready to help your administration identify other opportunities to ensure that our employees can travel with predictability and without undue delay," the technology companies, some of which have had a frosty relationship with Trump since the campaign, said in the letter.

"We are concerned ... that your recent Executive Order will affect many visa holders who work hard here in the United States and contribute to our country's success ... our ability to grow our companies and create jobs depends on the contributions of immigrants from all backgrounds."

Technology companies Amazon.com Inc. and Expedia In., both of which are based in Washington, filed a brief in support of the Washington judge's temporary stay.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Apple likely to invoke free-speech rights in encryption fight

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc. will likely seek to invoke the United States' protections of free speech as one of its key legal arguments in trying to block an order to help unlock the encrypted iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters, lawyers with expertise in the subject said this week.

The tech giant and the Obama administration are on track for a major collision over computer security and encryption after a federal magistrate judge in Los Angeles handed down an order on Tuesday requiring Apple to provide specific software and technical assistance to investigators.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook called the request from the Federal Bureau of Investigation unprecedented. Other tech giants such as Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google have rallied to support Apple.

Apple has retained two prominent, free-speech lawyers to do battle with the government, according to court papers: Theodore Olson, who won the political-speech case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010, and Theodore Boutrous, who frequently represents media organizations.

Government lawyers from the U.S. Justice Department have defended their request in court papers by citing various authorities, such as a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld an order compelling a telephone company to provide assistance with setting up a device to record telephone numbers.

The high court said then that the All Writs Act, a law from 1789, authorized the order, and the scope of that ruling is expected to be a main target of Apple when it files a response in court by early next week.

But Apple will likely also broaden its challenge to include the First Amendment's guarantee of speech rights, according to lawyers who are not involved in the dispute but who are following it.

Compared with other countries, the United States has a strong guarantee of speech rights even for corporations, and at least one court has ruled that computer code is a form of speech, although that ruling was later voided.

Apple could argue that being required to create and provide specific computer code amounts to unlawful compelled speech, said Riana Pfefferkorn, a cryptography fellow at Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society.

The order against Apple is novel because it compels the company to create a new forensic tool to use, not just turn over information in Apple's possession, Pfefferkorn said. "I think there is a significant First Amendment concern," she said.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles declined to comment on the possible free-speech questions on Thursday.

A speech-rights argument from Apple, though, could be met with skepticism by the courts because computer code has become ubiquitous and underpins much of the U.S. economy.

"That is an argument of enormous breadth," said Stuart Benjamin, a Duke University law professor who writes about the First Amendment. He said Apple would need to show that the computer code conveyed a "substantive message."

In a case brought by a mathematician against U.S. export controls, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, found in 1999 that the source code behind encryption software is protected speech. The opinion was later withdrawn so the full court could rehear the case, but that rehearing was canceled and the appeal declared moot after the government revised its export controls.

The FBI and prosecutors are seeking Apple's assistance to read the data on an iPhone 5C that had been used by Rizwan Farook, who along with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, carried out the San Bernardino shootings that killed 14 people and wounded 22 others at a holiday party.

U.S. prosecutors were smart to pick the mass shooting as a test case for an encryption fight with tech companies, said Michael Froomkin, a University of Miami law professor. That is because the shooting had a large emotional impact while also demonstrating the danger posed by armed militants, he said.

In addition, the iPhone in dispute was owned not by Farook but by his employer, a local government, which has consented to the search of the iPhone. The federal magistrate who issued the order, Sheri Pym, is also a former federal prosecutor.

"This is one of the worst set of facts possible for Apple. That's why the government picked this case," Froomkin said.

Froomkin added, though, that the fight was enormously important for the company because of the possibility that a new forensic tool could be easily used on other phones and the damage that could be done to Apple's global brand if it cannot withstand government demands on privacy. "All these demands make their phones less attractive to users," he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Obama to meet tech chiefs on surveillance

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama will Tuesday meet bosses of tech giants including Apple, Facebook, Google and Twitter to discuss US spy agency surveillance and his notorious health care reform website.

A White House official said Obama would talk to the Silicon Valley chieftains about progress in repairing the glitch prone website Healthcare.gov which has hampered the rollout of his signature domestic initiative.

"The meeting will also address national security and the economic impacts of unauthorized intelligence disclosures," the official said, adding that Obama also wanted to discuss how the tech sector could help unleash new economic growth and job creation.

Top executives at the talks will include Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, Tim Cook of Apple, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, Eric Schmidt of Google and Dick Costolo of Twitter.

Obama is familiar with many of the people who will be in the meeting -- a number are high profile and wealthy supporters of his political campaigns.

But the revelations of a massive US spy snooping program on the Internet, leaked by fugitive US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, have strained ties between the White House and the US tech sector.

Eight leading US-based technology companies last week called on Washington to overhaul its surveillance laws following the revelations of online eavesdropping in an open letter to Obama.

"The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual -- rights that are enshrined in our Constitution," they wrote.

Obama was last week handed a report by a panel he charged with examining the National Security Agency spy programs and aides say he will propose some restraints on snooping on Internet and telephone data in the New Year.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com