Assange: Facebook, Google, Yahoo spying tools for US intelligence

LONDON –  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange blasted Facebook, calling it the “most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented,” Russia Today reported Tuesday.

Assange, who is currently fighting extradition to Sweden from the U.K., claimed on the Russian news channel that the social networking site was used by the U.S. government to spy on its citizens.

“Here we have the world’s most comprehensive database about people — their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations and the communications with each other, their relatives — all sitting within the United States, all accessible to U.S. intelligence,” he said. “Facebook, Google, Yahoo — all these major U.S. organizations have built-in interfaces for U.S. intelligence.”

Assange added, “It’s not a matter of serving a subpoena. They have an interface that they have developed for U.S. intelligence to use.”

He also claimed that people using Facebook were helping U.S. intelligence operatives.

“Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook, they are doing free work for United States intelligence agencies in building this database for them.”