WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Barack Obama held a closed-door meeting with executives of major technology firms on Friday.
CEOs and high-ranking officials from Apple, AT&T and Google, along with top privacy representatives met with the President to discuss privacy and national security.
The session was excluded from Obama's public schedule.
The White House confirmed the meeting, which it described as "part of the ongoing dialogue the president has called for on how to respect privacy while protecting national security in a digital era."
A series of document leaks that started two months ago had shown to the world the proportions of surveillance programs conducted domestically and internationally by US National Security Agency (NSA).
The leaks by former NSA and CIA contractor Edward Snowden has since brought intense scrutiny on how US views privacy in its methods of gathering intelligence.
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