Big technology companies are seeing signs that the concerns of the public about government spying are a threat to their future earnings, analysts say.
These concerns have not yet begun their bottom lines. But critical international growth, particularly for companies selling cloud-based products, it has become more difficult after the revelations about the methods of the national security agency, which apparently include the obtaining of data of large tech companies this summer.
Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo! joined forces on Monday to ask the United States Government to "take the initiative" in the change of the monitoring of Government around the world is. AOL, owner of The Huffington Post, also signed the letter.
"We understand that Governments have a duty to protect its citizens," wrote the eight companies. But the revelations of this summer highlighted the urgent need for government surveillance practices reform worldwide.
Records of Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, appeared to show that the Agency has direct access to the main servers of tech companies, although they said that the companies had never knowingly provided the Government a backdoor.
With the exception of Twitter, which only became public last month, all the companies that signed the letter have increased in market value of securities from documents filtered first Snowden were reported by The Washington Post and The Guardian in June.
But that doesn't mean that the revelations of espionage of the NSA, which have continued penetrating to the outside are not a potential threat to its future growth.
"They are very concerned about their new companies that are in the cloud," said Norman Young, Morningstar analyst who covers Microsoft, one of the companies that signed the letter. "Yet he did not give the final result, but they are starting to see some questions from customers about what safe are your data in the cloud".
Microsoft cloud services, including Windows Azure, grew 103 percent, or $261 billion, last quarter.
Young said that since the revelations of surveillance, sale of cloud-based products that store data in a network of computers that can be accessed from virtually anywhere, has made it difficult, particularly outside the United States
"If you're a company abroad, are asking (1) is the NSA spying"? or (2) are there any back door built into the technology that can allow someone to snoop? That's the biggest problems which have with cloud-based services,"Young said.
The eight companies that signed the Charter on Monday aren't the only ones who can feel the impact of the disclosures of Snowden. Andrew Bartels, an analyst at technology research firm Forrester, told a story of a major German insurance company that had planned to use Salesforce, a cloud computing firm, to manage its customer data base. But the insurer put those plans after the NSA revelations emerged during the summer.
"The problem is not that you lose 10% of their income", said Bartels of technology companies. "They are concerned with the future growth".
Bartels, added, "If" your customers do not feel that data is safe, then not be able to sustain the kind of growth that have had.
Salesforce said not making comments "about" rumors or speculation. The eight companies that signed the Charter, also would not comment on how the NSA revelations may have affected their businesses.
Forrester published a study in August that said the cloud computing industry in the United States could lose as much as $180 billion in the next two years "thanks to the" agency of national security (NSA) Prism project.
Summarizing the concerns are not limited to companies that sell cloud-based products. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter will have a more difficult time attracting new members abroad if people are concerned about who has access to your data, said Daniel Castro, an analyst senior of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonpartisan think-tank.
"People will not stop using the search because the NSA monitoring engine. They will not stop using Facebook, "said Castro. "But if there is an alternative to foreign clients, it could then consider alternative."
VK, a Russian social network, is larger than Facebook in Russia.
"Value proposition on the part of [North American giant technology] in the big emerging markets is that we will take better care of your personal information of local cloud vendors," said Forrester Bartels. "" 'That argument now loses force if locals say,' OK, this is no longer the case. ""
"The NSA might be watching all my contacts on Facebook," said Bartels. "Why it is that the safety of Russia [agency] looking at all my contacts on Facebook best? It's not different".
