Security News > 2020 > October > The NSA is Refusing to Disclose its Policy on Backdooring Commercial Products
The NSA has long sought agreements with technology companies under which they would build special access for the spy agency into their products, according to disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and reporting by Reuters and others.
These so-called back doors enable the NSA and other agencies to scan large amounts of traffic without a warrant.
The agency declined to say how it had updated its policies on obtaining special access to commercial products.
Three former senior intelligence agency figures told Reuters that the NSA now requires that before a back door is sought, the agency must weigh the potential fallout and arrange for some kind of warning if the back door gets discovered and manipulated by adversaries.
As long as this is a democratic country, the NSA has an obligation to disclose its general processes and procedures so we all know what they're doing in our name.