Government threatened fine Yahoo $250,000 a day if they didn't go along with NSA spying. Yahoo/AP

Yahoo Headquarters. Yahoo/AP

Yahoo was threatened with fines amounting to $250,000 a day if they didn't go along with NSA spying. Yahoo/AP. The revelation was unsealed along with many other facts concerning Yahoo's unsuccessful fight against the NSA. Yahoo's lawyers tried to fight against the NSA PRISM program that gave access to Yahoo's user data. The government argued that Yahoo's fight against PRISM should have never even made it to court, despite Yahoo's argument that the program clearly violated its American users 4th amendment rights. 

My Comment:

Well at least they tried. I myself wouldn't have gone along with it. If the government pointed a gun at my head and said "go along with us or we fine you an obscene amount of money" I would say "go right ahead". When my investors and company asked why we were suddenly hemorrhaging cash I would say that the government would arrest me if I said anything and to take it up with them. Of course that's easy to say in my position. If I owned a multinational corporation that employs quite a few people, I might think differently. The choices were to shut down completely, fight (and lose) or just go along with it. At least Yahoo fought. 

Still, I wonder how many other companies simply lied down and took it, without once trying to fight it out? I know a couple of companies did go so far as to shut down when the NSA put pressure on them, but they were small encrypted e-mail services. As far as I know, other then Yahoo,  all the major companies went along with it. Still, it amuses me when I hear people saying that companies are in bed with Washington. Sometimes that is true but I'm guessing the government uses the stick far more often then the carrot...