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LOSTINTHECLOUD

GOOGLEANDTHEUSGOVERNMENT

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ExecutiveSummary

An ambitiousquest for in0luencewith theUS

government is starting to pay off for search giantGoogle,aConsumerWatchdoginvestigationhasfound. OneofthemostvisiblesignsofGooglescloutisthehangars at the National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministrations Moffett Air0ield, near Googles worldheadquarters, where a 0leet of jets and helicoptersstandsreadytoferrythecompanystopexecutivesnearor far, for business or pleasure. When a deal betweenNASA and top Google executives to use the base was0irstdisclosedin27,itcalledforonlyfourjetstousethebase.

ButnewlyreleasedgovernmentrecordsshowthattheGoogleexecutive0leethasnowgrowntosixjetsandtwo helicopters, while at least 4 Google employeesholdsecuritybadgesatthebaseandalloftheplanesare

suppliedwithDepartmentofDefensejetfuel.While the deal was originally struck between

GoogleandNASA in thenameof scienti0ic research bythe Google 0leet, NASA documents show that preciouslittleresearchhasoccurred.Accordingtoasetofemailsobtained by freelance journalist and FOI specialistRussell Carollo, a 0ighter jet bought by Google

executives in 28 to perform the research was stillbeingreviewedforair-worthinessinmid-21.

Meanwhile, 0lightrecords show thattheother jetsparkedbyGoogleexecutivesattheNASA0ieldareoftenused for vacations or schmoozing, including at least

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three wintertime trips to the Caribbean and a trip byGooglechiefexecutiveEricSchmidttotheCannesFilmFestival.

InrecentyearsGooglehaslandedcontractswithatleast 25 federal agencies, contracting databases show.While the value of those contracts is currently only alittle over $4 million, Google has made numerousinroads in Washington since the arrival of the Obamaadministration in 28, positioning the company formajorInside-the-Beltwaygrowthintheyearstocome.

Documents obtained by Consumer Watchdog alsoshow that Googles close ties with the Obama WhiteHouse have raised concerns about possible specialtreatment or con0lictsof interest at the DepartmentofHomeland Security,theUS Patent & Trademark Of0ice,theFederalCommunicationsCommissionandNASA.

Inaddition,of0icialsatbothDHSandtheFCChaveraisedpointedconcernsaboutweakprivacyprotections

in Google products and whether Googles well-documented dif0iculties with privacy protection couldcreate big problems for federal agencies that use itsservices.

Withminimalnotice,theFCCinAugustbeganusingGoogleAnalyticstomonitorvisitorstoitswebsite,eventhough one of0icialwrote in an e-mail that its privacy

protectionsareratherweak.Addedtheof0icial:

GiventheFCC'srecentstatementregardingcybersecurity,andthatweareproposingtooutsourcecontentanalyticstoGoogle, especially given Google's recent privacy breach

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involvingwi0idata,Ithinkweshoulddoubleuponkeepingourusers'dataprivatefromGoogle.

Yetonemonthlater,theFCCbeganallowingGoogle

AnalyticstotrackallvisitorstotheFCCwebsiteunlessthey opt out by disabling the cookies in theirbrowser. However, visitors to the site are neverinformed of the tracking -- unless they happento 0irstcheck the agencys privacy policy at http://www.fcc.gov/fccprivacypolicy.html. Brett Glass, oneof thefewpeopleoutsidethe FCC

and Google who seems tobe aware of the tracking, issharply critical of the FCC-Google deal. It isinappropriate for the Commission to allow acorporation with frequent business before theCommission, and an interest in the outcomes of itsproceedings,totrackactivityontheCommission'sWebsite,Glassrecentlycomplainedinaposttotheagency.

The comment echoes concerns expressed insidethe agency about whether adoption of other servicessuch as cloud computing applications supplied by acompany that bids on spectrum licenses creates acon0lictofinterest,orataminimumaperceivedcon0lictof interest, that competing bidders could point to asindicativeofanunfairbiddingprocess.

When Google doesnt get what it wants from the

fedsdespiteitsconnections,thecompanyhasresortedto legal action it recently sued the Department ofInterior for refusingtoconsider its products for a$5millioncontract.

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Google is also pursuing close ties to the nationalsecurityandlawenforcementestablishments,accordingto documents and interviews. Some of these

arrangements are shrouded in secrecy at governmentbehest.Googles innovative products offer hope of

improving government services for the public whilesaving the taxpayers money. And as a for-pro0itcorporation with a 0iduciary obligation to itsshareholders, Google can serve the public whiledelivering bene0its for its stockholders and the USgovernment.

Yet as a repository -- and a funnel -- for vastreservoirsofprivatedataonAmericans,Googlealsohasclear social andlegalresponsibilities forprotectingtheprivatedataofitsusersfromunwarrantedintrusionbygovernment agencies. How well Google manages thisobviousandprofoundcon0lictislargelyamystery:the

companys relationship with US intelligence and lawenforcement agencies in key areas includinggovernment surveillance and cybersecurity remainsshrouded in of0icial secrecy and beyond review bycitizens and watchdog groups, most members ofCongress,andotherpolicymakers. Someof thehiddenaspectsofGooglesembraceof

the federal government emerge from numerousdocuments obtained by Consumer Watchdog. Thisreport summarizes what consumers, taxpayers, andpolicymakers need to know about Google as a

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government contractor, and the questions Google andthegovernmentdonotwanttoanswer.

Four issues highlight Googles ambitions as a

governmentcontractor.

NASAs cozy deal for Air Google: Theagreement with NASA for the use of MoffettAir0ieldinMountainViewgrantsthecompanyexecutiveslandingrights inexchangefor $1.3millioninannualrent,anduseoftheiraircraftin scienti0ic experiments. While documentsfrom the project indicate that the public hasreceived little of the promised data aboutgreenhousegases,Googlehasgainedahubforitsownkindofstar-gazing.LastMay,CEOEricSchmidt 0lew one of the companys GulfStreamVjetsfromMoffetttotheCannesFilmFestivalwhereheattendedapartywithMick

Jagger,KevinSpacey,andGlennClose.InJuly,two planes 0illed with company employeestookofffromMoffettto0lytoTahititoviewasolar eclipse. In July 28, a planeful ofGooglers 0lew from Moffett to Montana toattend the high-society wedding of then-SanFranciscomayorGavinNewsom.

Pentagon Spending: In September 21,Google landed its biggest Pentagon contract,inking a $27 million deal with the NationalGeospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) even

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after media reports raising questions aboutfavoritism. Contracts with Pentagon agenciesfor various forms of the Google Earth

E nt erpris e s oftware s uit e (start ing at$1,) currently constitute the bulk ofMountain Views government revenues,accordingtogovernmentspendingdatabases.

High-level support from the Obama

administration: In the summer of 21, thesearchenginecompany outmaneuvered moreestablishedrival0irmsintheburgeoningcloudco mp utin g m ar ket t o s ec ur e f eder algovernment certi0ication for its Apps forGovernment software. That certi0icationhelped the company win a competitive $6.5million contractinDecember21toprovideemail for 15, employees of the General

Services Administration. In two instancescomplaints arose that Google receivedpreferential treatment, while other of0icialsraisedconcernsaboutprivacyandcon0lictsofinterest.

A secretive relationshipwith theNational

Security Agency. The search giant has alegitimate need to cooperate with thegovernments mammoth and secretive codebreaking agency in its efforts to defend theintegrity of US computer networks. But NSA

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also has legal power to force Google to handovertheprivateinformationofitsusers.HowGoogle executives handle this potentially

con0licted relationship is largely unknown:neitherGooglenortheNSAaretalking.

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1)AirGoogle

The relationship between Google and NASAblossomedinSeptember 25,whenCEOEricSchmidtand G. Scott Hubbard, director of the Ames ResearchCenterwheretheMoffettAir0ieldislocated,signedano-costmemorandumofunderstandingcallingforthejointdevelopment in the areas of data management,distributed computing, bio and nano-technology, andR&Dfor theentrepreneurial space industry. When theagreement was updated inMarch27, Google agreedtopaydevelopmentcosts incurredbyNASA andtodoenvironmenttestingonthesite. InJuly27,SchmidtpersuadedNASAtodoasidedeal with a company called H211, which is controlledpersonallybySchmidtalongwithSergeyBrinandLarryPage. The Google execs promised to allow NASA to

out0itH211saircraftwithscienti0icequipmenttostudyglobalwarmingandgreenhousegases.H211nowpays$1.3 million annually in return for the right to 0lyprivate planes in and out of the base. This spring, thecontract was quietly extended by NASA to 214,documentsshow. Googledoesntgetanyspecialbargainonthelease.

According to the HangerTrader.com, a classi0iedadvertisinghangarservice,Googleispayingasmuchasone and a half times the average asking price for ahangar rentalpermonth,astheNASA AmesleasewithH211 agreement states they paid from August to

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September $226,731.48 for their hangar rental of65,513 sq ft. This 0igure is almost as much as Googlewould havetopayall year torenthangar spaceat two

of Californias premier airports, San Jose and SanFrancisco.NASAnotesthatrentalratesaresubjecttoavarietyoffactors,includingcomparableratesattheSanJose and San Francisco airports, gross weight of theaircraft, and other considerations. Tim Murray ofAtlantic Aviation, based out of the San Jose Airport,provided a quote for two Gulfstream Vs at a totalaveragecostperyearof$358,44.AttheSanFranciscoAirport,SignatureFlightSupportsJaySinghprovidedaquoteof$2.25asq/ftfortwoG5sthataveragescloseto$486,84peryear,whichisfarlessthanwhatGooglepays currently, even when taking into account theirBoeings767-2and757. The extraordinary aspect of the deal isnt themoney,itsthefactthatonlycertainorganizationswith

averygoodreasongetaccesstoMoffett.Not everyone can nor should use this air0ield,

says the NASA policy. NASA has speci0ic criteria todetermine who can partner with us and whether theymay use their aircraft at Moffett. All requests by aprivate entity undergo a rigorous review process andeveryrequestmustdemonstratearelationshiptoNASA

missions.1

But the claim that NASA obtainssubstantialhard-to-obtain scienti0ic data in return for hosting Googlesexecutive jets is hard to sustain. As reported in 28,

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1http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.rss.spacewire.html?pid=25413

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NASAengineersdiscoveredtheycouldnoteasilymodifythe companys largest aircraft, a Boeing 757, to holdscienti0ic equipment. So in 28, H211 arranged to

obtainanexperiment0ighterplane,calledtheAlphaJet,that could be rigged to collect data for atmosphericinvestigationprojectknownasCal-Nex.Butdocumentsshow the project ran into problems last year whenH211wasdeniedPentagonpermissiontolanditsjetatMiramarairbaseinSanDiego.AscheduleofsixCal-Nexaerialresearchprogramsfrom April to July 21doesnotincludeanyGoogleaircraft.2 Inaddition,aJune25,21 email by NASA scientist Laura T. Iraci disclosesthat the jet had yet to undergo NASAs Airworthinessand Flight Safety Review. Iraci also discusses howNASA is starting small with the new jet, attachingverysmallselfcontainedenvironmentalcensors.

NASAs public relations of0ice did not respond toquestionsaboutGooglescontributiontoCal-Nexbuta

briefsummaryoftheprojectbyIracicanbefoundhere:http://o3.arb.ca.gov/research/calnex21/Afternoon/LauraIraci.pdf FlightdataobtainedfromtheFlightaware.comwebsite and other sources show that the Alpha Jet is notusednearlyasoftenasthecompanysthreeGulfstreamVplanesortheBoeing757and762.SomeoftheAlpha

Jets0lightshavebeenasshortas6minutes(onApril7,21)and11minutes(onJuly18,21).

Lately, H211 has been able to block Flightawarefrom releasing data on the travels of the three

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2http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/calnex/2010platforms_v7.pdf

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Gulfstreams -- notwithstanding the oft-repeatedcommitments of Google leadership to transparency inall things (particularly politics and government).

Fortunately, a volunteer army ofaviationbuffsaroundthe world, known as plane spotters, often manages tocatchtheGoogle0leetinaction.

The 0lights tracked by Consumer Watchdog leavelittlequestionthatGooglesleadershipislivingoutthelifestylesoftherichandfamouscourtesyofUncleSam.

Air Google 0lights in pursuit of less scienti0ic

objectivesinclude:

--OnMay13,21anH211GulfstreamVdepartedMoffett at 11:3 at night, headed for the Nice-CotedAzur airport in southern France. That week, GoogleheldaneventforadvertisersatthenearbyCannesFilmFestival. On the night of May 18, CEO Eric Schmidt

attendedapartyforMickJaggerinCannes.OnJune26,anH211GulfstreamV0lewfromMountainViewtoNice-CotedAzurforasecondtime.

--OnJuly9,thecompanysBoeing762 took off forTahiti where a near-total solar eclipse was visible onJuly11.Amongthesunworshipperswerebillionaireco-

founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The 762 and aGulfstreamVreturnedtoTahitionJuly15,accordingto0light records, presumably to pick up stragglingGooglers.

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Sailing blogger Frank Taylor with the Google founders in Tahiti.

(http://www.tahinaexpedition.com/2010/07/successful-eclipse-and-big-surprise.html)

--Last January 3, an H211 Gulfstream V 0lewovernight from the Caribbean island of Tortola toMountain View, according to 0light data. In December27, an H211 Gulfstream was spotted in Tortola fortheweddingofLarryPageatmogulRichardBransons

privatelyownedNeckerIsland.

-- On January 7, a Gulfstream V 0lew from St.Maarten, another resort island, to Mountain View. AnH211GulfstreamalsolandedinSt.MaarteninFebruary

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28.ThesameGulfstreamwasphotographedagaininSt.MaartenonApril27,29.3

Googleexecutivejet.liesoverbeachatStMaarteninFebruary2008(http://jetphotosnet/

viewphotophp?id=6184441&nseq=75)

Two years ago, the Mountain View Voiceeditorialized about the NASA-Google connection,sayingIfNASAjustwantsthemoney,anddoesntreallycare about scienti0ic experiments, it should dispensewiththepretense.(MountainViewVoice,December7,28). NASA of0icials say that they are examiningwhetherMoffettAir0ieldisanunder-utilizedassetthatshouldbesoldoff.SuchasalecouldsaveNASAmillions

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3http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/312964.html

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of dollars a year in maintenance costs and open theair0ieldtootherprivateaircraft.

Itturnsoutthescienti0icresearchisbasicallya0ig

leaf so that NASA can justify doing deals with privatecompanies. NASAs Moffett leadership also claims thattheagency does researchon environmental conditionsin San Francisco Bay aboard a 246-foot long zeppelinairshipthatsparkedatMoffett.4 Butthecrafthappensto be owned by Airship Ventures Inc., a privatecompany which charges $495 per person for one-hourtoursoftheBayaboardtheirzeppelin. 5 Thecompanysboard includes Silicon Valley investor Esther Dyson,whohasvarioustiestoSergeyBrinandhiswifeAnneWojcicki. (Both Dyson and Google are investors inWojcickisgeneticscompany23andMe.) While these deals are unusual, theyre not totallyunprecedented. A 0irm named Zero Gravity (http://www.gozerog.com) also has a deal with NASA to use

Moffett.However, one NOT for pro0it out0it, Humanitarian

AirLogistics,hassofarbeenunabletoobtainaccesstoMoffett even though the group is clearly a charity.Strangely,documentsshowthatwhenthegroupaskedNASA to use the 0ield, NASA insisted the group obtainpermissionfromthenearbycityofMountainVieweven

though it did not impose a similar requirement onH211. The City of Mountain View declined to getinvolved.

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4http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2009/09-130AR.html

5http://www.airshipventures.com/tours.php

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Accordingtoa27 memobythechief of NASAsAmes Research Center at Moffett, Pete Worden, Noteveryone can nor should use this air0ield. NASA has

speci0ic criteriatodetermine who can partner with usandwhether they mayusetheir aircraft at Moffett. Allrequestsbyaprivateentityundergoarigorousreviewprocess and every request must demonstrate arelationshiptoNASAmissions.6

One person with knowledge of the matter said acomplaint regarding alleged favoritism toward Googlehas been 0iled against Ames with NASAs inspectorgeneral based on the different treatment received byH211andotherapplicants.

NASA apparently charges the Google executives abetterrateforsuppliesofjetfuelthanisavailablefromprivate suppliers. While the Defense Departmentcharges H211 market rates for fuel, it doesnot collectanystateorlocalexcisetaxesonthesales,accordingto

thefuelcontractbetweenH211andNASA.ThatmeansH211 pays less than full freight - unless H211voluntarilyturnsoverthesetaxpaymentstothestateofCalifornia.

2) Googles Washington Revenue Stream: ThinkPentagon,nottheCloud

On September 24,21, Google landed itslargestgovernment contract ever: a $26.7 million dollarrenewablesole-sourcecontractforGoogleEarthspatial

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6http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=25413

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im agi ng s of t ware with the secretive NationalGeospatial-IntelligenceAgency(NGA). With that decision, the Internet search giant

multiplied nine-foldthetotal of $3.2 million in directpurchase orders that it has received from 25 federalgovernmentagenciessinceitsfoundingin1998. The contract was essentially handed to Google.

Google istheonlyidenti0ied sourcethat can meet theGovernment's requirement for compatible capabilityacross networks, global access, unlimited processingand software licenses, and access to the Google Earthhosted content through widely-used Open GeospatialConsortiumserviceinterfaces,theagencyexplained.7

Initially, the agency simply announced Googlewould get the contract without competition. After FoxNews ran a story critical of the deal, the agencyextended the deadline and invited proposals fromothers.

The agency also added new language disclosingthatthechoiceofGooglewasprettymuchinevitable--because the Pentagon already has a deep, classi0iedinvestmentinGoogletechnology:

NGA has made a significant investment in Google Earth technology

through the GEOINT Visualization Services (GVS) Program on

SECRET and TOP SECRET government networks and throughout the

world in support of the National System for Geospatial (NSG)Expeditionary Architecture (NEA). This effort augments the current

NSG architecture by expanding the GVS and NEA investments to the

unclassified network in support of Department of Defense (DoD)

Geospatial Visualization Enterprise Services (GV-ES) standardization.

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7https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=482ab868878ecd0bd81d978216718820&_cview=0

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The NSG, DoD, and Intelligence Community have made additional

investments to support client and application deployment and testing

that use the existing Google Earth services provided by NGA.8

All of this makes sense in light of the history ofGoogle Earth, which started out as an independentcompanycalledKeyholethatreceivedsomeof itsinitialcapitalfromtheCentralIntelligenceAgency. A review of Googles other deals and federalconsulting contracts for use of Google productsshowsthat the companys mapping products are among its

hottestwareswiththefeds. In the defense sector, Googles two biggestaccomplishmentsare:

--Contracts with the National GeospatialIntelligenceAgency andtheAir ForceWeather Agency,both of which directly support US military efforts inIraq,Afghanistan,andelsewhere. --Growingbusinesswithlicensedvendors.Googleslicensed vendor business in the government sector isgrowingfastestattheDepartmentofDefense,accordingtogovernmentcontractingdatabases.

So while cloud computing will almost certainly

become Googles most lucrative government service,Pentagon contracts currently comprise the bulk of itsfederalgovernmentbusiness.

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8https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=20a4743fb3588bdc88465bef87074218&tab=core&_cview=1

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WhatPentagonof0iceswantmostfromGoogleanditsvendors,itseems,aremoresophisticatedandcostlyversions of Google Earth, the companys popular

Internet-based aerial viewing service. Googles freeservices have proved useful and compatible withexistingcomputingsystems. In September 28, the National Air and SpaceIntelligenceCommandhiredaGooglevendortoprovideGoogleEarthatthecostof$217,63.NASICassessesthemissileforcesofothercountries.LastSeptember,NASICissued a no-bid $9,322 contract to another Googlevendor. Google software is part of NASICs infrastructureand had proven to be reliable, dependable andcompatible with various external users of the NASICfacility,saidacontractingof0icerasjustifyingthesole-sourcecontract.

3)HowGooglewenttotheheadofthecloud

NosmallpartofGooglesin0luenceongovernmentcontractingdecisionsisthecompanysprovenabilitytocapture markets once dominated by others. Just asGoogle has come to play a dominant role in the USadvertising industry, so it envisions capturing a large

share of the federal governments computing budget,estimatedat$76billionannually. Welcometotheworldofcloudcomputing,inwhichgovernment dollars drizzle down on those high-tech0irms that can best manage the governments

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None of the publishing 0irms bid on the contract.Theno-costnatureofthecontractwouldhaveananti-competitiveeffect,saidanindustrygroup,theCoalition

for Patent and Trademark Information Dissemination.The arrangement, said a spokesman in a letter toUSPTO, would give Google inequitable advantages intiming,brandingandinsidetechnicalinformationthatareclearly inviolationof existingstatutes,andwouldresult in unfair competitive advantage over otherresellersofpatentandtrademarkinformation.

Thereasonforthegroupsconcernboilsdowntothe way Google seems tobe copying tactics pioneeredby Microsoft in order to gain advantages in certainmarkets. When a company gives away something forfree,itisobviouslysubsidizingtheproductorservice.Ifthat free good or service is obtained on an exclusivebasis,itcouldconstituteanillegaladvantage.Inthecaseof the PTO, thearrangement seems to raise questions

aboutwhetherGoogle,bysubsidizingaccesstocertaingovernment information, could ultimately gain amonopoly over that information as other companies0inditimpossibletocompete. The USPTO of0icials pushed to get the contractsignedbeforeascheduledmeetingbetweenSecretaryofCommerce Gary Locke, Director of Patents David

Kappos,andGoogleCEOEricSchmidtinFebruary21.When the contract was announced, PTO procurementchief Kate Kudrewicz told her contracting of0icer,President Obama will be very pleased to hear this

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news. Also copied on the e-mail were GoogleexecutivesAndrewYoungandJohnOrwant. Googlegainedanother advantageover itsrivals in

July 21, when the General Services Administrationannounced that Googles Apps for Government servicewas judged to have met the standards of the FederalInformationSecurityManagementAct(FISMA)aheadofrivals such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce.com.Microsoft claimed at the time it would also receivecerti0ication very soon, but ended up receiving itsFISMA certi0ication in early December, about 0ivemonthsbehindGoogle. FISMAcerti0icationisakey0irststepintheObamaadministrations campaign to move federal computingservices out of government of0ices and into the cloud.Certi0icationcanspareeachagencythedauntingtaskofevaluating the privacy and security standards of eachdifferentvendor.

Thewritingof theFISMAstandardswasdrivenbythe Obama administrations chief information of0icer,VivekKundra.Formerlythechieftechnologyof0icerforthe District of Columbia, Kundra is known to admireGoogles products. In a September 28 promotionalvideoforGoogle,accessibleonYouTube,KundratoutedthevirtuesofGooglesGovernmentforAppssoftware.

Wewerelookingforsomethingthatwaseasy-to-usefromtheenduserperspective,andwe'realsolookingforatechnology that can bescaledimmediately.And based onthosemetrics,andjusttheeconomicvalueofbeingableto

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rolloutatechnologysuper-fastatalowcost,wedecidedtogowithGoogleApps9

FlashforwardtoSeptember29:Obamahadbeen

electedpresidentandKundrahadbeennamedchiefCIOoftheentirefederalgovernment.Aimingtodonothingless than changing the way business is done inWashington, Kundra sought to achieve big savings bymoving government computing services to offsitevendors,tothecloud. There are several indications Kundras of0ice

soughttohurrythingsalongwithGoogle.ByNovember29,Kundrasof0iceandtheGSAwereseekingtoholda meeting on Google Accreditation, according to anemailobtainedunderFOIA. Efforts to get Google certi0ied received a furtherboost in February 21 when the Senate con0irmedtechnology executive Martha Johnson as GSAadministrator. Johnson came from Computer SciencesCorp., which has an alliance on cloud computing withGoogleinbothLosAngelesandAustralia. Amonthlater,inMarch21,Kundrapressedtwointeragency committees to 0inish writing the FISMAstandards. At the time, Google representatives wanted toshowitsAppsforGovernmentsoftwaretogovernment

contractorsfortheirapprovalbutwasinsistingthatthegovernments IT specialists sign non-disclosureagreements.

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9 Kundra endorses Googles government products: See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZus5bvC3M&feature=player_embedded

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While the CIO seems to havebeen prepared togoalong, the demand triggered a protest from theDepartmentofHomelandSecurity.

This condition is very troubling, wrote TobyLevin,DirectorofPrivacyPolicyatDHSinaMarch21email. ThedocumentsindicatethatinthewakeofLevinsconcerns,theagencyparticipantsdeclinedtosignnon-disclosure agreements. Google then backed off itsdemand. But Levinhadmanyother serious concernsaboutthe lack of an adequate privacy review prior to theGoogledeal.NowthatIgivethismorethought,Ihaveconcerns that this review with Google may violatefederal contracting rules of impartiality, she warned.Themereselectionof Googlefor apilotreview, couldbeviewedbycompetitorsasfavoritismandgiveGoogleanunfairadvantageintheapprovalprocess.

When the government is doing due diligence tounderstandpracticesandpoliciesofacompany,Levin,now retired, said in an interview with ConsumerWatchdog, there should be no barrier or anylimitation. At around the same time, Levin wrote anotheremail lamenting Kundras effort to rush though the

cloud program with little regard for privacyconsiderations.Onekeyof0icialisundermuchpressurefromKundratogetthisoutinthenexttwoweeks,shewrote.

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Inanotheremail,Levinnotedthattheprivacyissueseemed to be getting short shrift. The plan onlymentions privacy on the last page in a parenthetical,

shecomplained.ThepressuretomovequicklyinthisareadoesraiseconcernsforthePrivacyCommittee. She also noted that one of the key privacy issueswas the needfor no servers outsidethe USgiven thecon0lict of law issues, a reference to the fact that itsimpossible for the US to protect privacy of data if thedataisstoredinanothercountry. Google, however, has always refused to disclosewhere its servers are located and refuses to saywhethertheyareallinthecontinentalUnitedStates. Mysteriously,theGSA later changeditsrulestonolonger require that the data centers reside in thecontinental United States, stating that while GSAprefersalocationwithintheUnitedStates,werecognizewe may have equated location with security and

excluded other factors that could also ensure thesecurityofourdata,whichundulyrestrictedofferors. One well-connected media outlet has sincereportedthatVendorsourcessaythatwasspeci0icallyforGoogle.10

In communications with US of0icials seen byConsumer Watchdog, Google simply says the servers

areonUSsoil,whichmeanstheycouldactuallybeinthe Caribbean, the South Paci0ic, the Arctic, or some

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10http://federalnewsradio.com/index.php?nid=110&sid=2189864

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other distant part of the world where the US haspossessionsthattechnicallyqualifyasUSsoil. Levins dismay only increased when her of0ice

discovered that Google was already promoting itsGoogle Analytics product as a federally-approvedapplication. Googleis saying weapproved their analytics toolfor cloud computing! wrote DHS Privacy Of0iceAssociate director Steve Richards. This doesnt lookgood. The announcement, noted Levin to federal cloudinitiative leader Peter Mell, overlooked the fact thatGoogle Analytics collects IP addresses of users. Not agoodprivacypractice,shepointedout.

The episode prompted a caustic comment fromLevintoMell:Frankly,weneedtoenterintocontractsthatre0lectfederalrequirements,shewrote. Agreed,repliedMell.

And yet, the government would soon change itsrequirements on server locations to allegedlyaccommodateGoogledespiteprivacyconcerns. In July 21, Google announced it had receivedcerti0ication from the GSA for itsapps. At thetimeofGoogles approval, Microsoft and Salesforce.com werealsounderconsiderationforFISMAapproval,according

tootheragencyemails. TheGSA declined to respond towritten questionsabouttheFISMAprocess,andsomeobserverssaytheremaybevalidreasonswhyGooglegotthrough0irst.

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Why did Google get certi0ied 0irst? asked onefederalcontractorfamiliarwiththeFISMAprocesswhoaskednottobenamed.WhenyousayGoogleIthinkof

agility and adaptability. I think of Microsoft as thebureaucracy. Googleexecutive David Mihalictold Federal NewsRadio that the FISMA review process had beenextremely thorough. He said Google had madechanges that exceeded the government standards. Hesaid Google now assures agencies their data will bestoredonlyonserversinthecontinentalUnitedStatesandthoseserverswillnotbeusedbynon-governmentalcustomers. DHS was not the only federal department wherethe push to adopt Google sparked major privacy andcon0lictof interest concerns.At theFCC, theseworriesand Googles penchant for extreme secrecy completelyderailed a 29-21 effort to move the FCC email

systemovertoGoogle,documentsshow. Toby Levin of DHS stops short of accusing theObama administration of outright favoritism towardGoogle and said she does not fault CIO Kundra forpressingforaction.Butshesaysshewasconcernedthattheprocesswasmovingtooquickly. Iwasntcomfortablewithit,butyoucanargueit

made sense to start with one of the big guys in theindustry,shesaid. Yet theprivacy andsecurity implicationsof cloudcomputingshouldnotberushed,Levinsaid.

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Theresareason governmentgoesslow.Weneedto work out policies for all personally identi0iableinformation [put] into a cloud. Once you set that

criteria,thosearetherulesthatwillapplysotheyneedtobeadequateandtight. Inmy view,the government needstoexamineallof the services under consideration in a neutral andunbiasedmanner,Levinsaid.Nofavoritism.

5)FederallawenforcementagenciesrelyonGoogle

forsurveillancetechnology.

AsConsumer Watchdogreportedearlier thisyear,

theFBIhasspent$6,onGoogleEarthEnterprisesof tware since 2 7 . Th e Drug En for cem en tAdministrationhasspentmorethan$67,.

TheDEAscontractingrecordssaythatGoogleEarthisbeingusedinconnectionwiththeagencysHigh

IntensityDrugTraf0ickingAreaprogram,whichtargetsspeci0ic geographic domestic regions of the UnitedStates.

The FBI has not disclosed exactly how it isusing Google Earth. However, the FBIs DomesticInvestigationsandOperationsGuideencouragesagentsto use digital mapping technologies like Google Earth

forassemblingdossiersonlocalcommunities.If theFBImerges ethnicdatait hasgatheredonto

Google Earth maps, it raises the possibility of unfairracialpro0iling.

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6)UnnecessarySecrets:Googles Relationshipwith

theNationalSecurityAgencyRemainsHidden

When Google senior executive Vint Cerf visitedWashington in June 29, one of his stops was theNational Security Agency at Fort Meade in Maryland.TherehediscussedcybersecuritywithGeneralKeithB.Alexander, chief of US Cyber Command, who overseesthePentagonsnetworkdefensesystem. Cerfs visit embodied the ongoing collaborationbetween Google and NSA, which monitors globalcommunications networks. That relationship is nowshrouded in of0icial secrecy because of the NSAstwo-fold mission: 1) the protection of US informationsystems, and 2) the production of foreign signalsintelligenceinformation. Google, like the entire US economy, depends onNSAful0illingits0irstcybersecuritymission.Soitmade

sensethatGoogleandNSAworkedtogetherinJanuary21 when twenty-four US corporations foundthemselves under a sophisticated cyber attack,apparently from China. The attackers were apparentlyseekingprivatedataheldbythecompanies. Whatconcernscivillibertiesandprivacyadvocatesabout the Google-NSA relationship is the other half of

NSAs mission: the production of foreign signalsintelligence information. In plain language, NSAintercepts and decodes private communications ofpeoplearoundtheworld.Despitetheuseof theof0icialmodi0ier foreign, NSA is authorized under certain

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circumstances to collect intelligence on AmericancitizensonUSsoil. As a corporate entity, Google must manage a

con0lictofitsinterests. The problem Google faces is that its wholebusinesscouldbeterminatedatanytimeifitsnetworkgets infected or hit by a denial of service attack, saidJamesBamford,authorofanumberofbooksabouttheNSA. Theresa feeling among experts in the areathatthere is only one repository of experts on the subjectandthatsNSA. BamfordcitedthetensionbetweenNSAsdomesticsurveillancemissionandGooglesdesiretoassureuserstheirprivatedataissecureandprivate. NSA loves secrecy and loves being able topenetratecommunicationstechnologies,hesaidinaninterview. The question is, could NSAs relationshipwith Google give it more access to private domestic

communicationsthanitalreadyhas? Expertssaytheresnoevidenceofthat. Google does what every telecommunicationscompany does, says William Arkin, a defenseconsultant who co-authored the recent WashingtonPost series Top Secret America. They comply withnational security letters and other requests for

information. National Security Letters, known as NSLs, are anextraordinary search procedure which gives thegovernment the power to compel the disclosure of

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customer recordsheldby banks,telephonecompanies,InternetServiceProviders,andothers. SuchcommunicationsbetweenGoogleandNSAare

shrouded in of0icial secrecy. So is the Google-NSArelationshiponcybersecurity. This summer the Electronic Privacy InformationCenter(EPIC),aWashington-basednon-pro0it,suedtheNSAforrecordsofitsdealingswithGoogleinthewakeoftheJanuary21cyberattack.InresponsetoanEPICrequest under the Freedom of Information Act, NSArefused to con0irm or deny any relationship withGoogle. John Verdi, an attorney for EPIC,says it would beunusual for NSA totake such a stanceif the Google-NSA relationship was merely a garden-variety cybersecurity arrangement. Verdi says EPIC has noinformation that Google has compromised its securitystandardsinitsdealingswithNSA.

Experts say that of0icial secrecy makes itimpossible to know the nature of the Google-NSArelationship,evenifitisbenign. It makes sensefor NSA to share withGoogle thesignatures of malicious code that it detects. Thatinformation would help Google defend itself againstattacks, said Gregory Nojeim of the Center for

Democracy and Technology, a non-pro0it group thatadvocates industry, not government, take the lead incyber-security. What complicates the situation is that thosesignaturesareclassi0iedinformation,Nojeimsaidinan

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interview.PresumablyGooglehaspeoplewhohavetheclearancesandcanreceivethatinformation. Whether the Google-NSA relationship on

cybersecurityraisescivillibertiesissuesisunknown. Fromacivillibertiespointofview,itismuchmoreimportant toknowaboutthe0lowof informationfromGoogletoNSA,thanNSAtoGoogle,Nojeimsays.Itisincumbent upon Google to disclose more about itsrelationshipwithNSA. TheGoogle-NSA relationship goesback at least toAugust 23 when the search engine entered into a$2.7 million contract with the agency. According todocumentsobtainedunderFOIA,NSApaidGoogleforasearch appliance capable of searching 15 milliondocumentsintwenty-fourlanguages.The arrangementwas apparently congenial to Google. In April 24,MountainViewextendeditsservicesforanotheryearatno cost to the government, according to contract

records. An NSA spokesperson told Consumer Watchdogthat the agency doesnotcurrently have any contractswithGoogle.