Facebook's Zuckerberg buttonholes Obama, rages against NSA dragnet spying

Mark Zuckerberg is furious with US President Barack Obama, who - metaphorically, at least - clasped his hands over his ears and repeatedly said to himself "I can't hear you" when the Facebook boss tried to grumble about spies spying on people.

The free content ad network supremo said in a public post on Facebook that he was fed up with "the behaviour of the US government."

Zuck's complaints came after master blabbermouth Edward Snowden suggested that the country's National Security Agency could infect millions of computers and fondleslabs and pretend to be a social network, such as Facebook.

A claim that the NSA has flatly denied.

"The internet works because most people and companies do the same. We work together to create this secure environment and make our shared space even better for the world," Zuckerberg said.

"This is why I've been so confused and frustrated by the repeated reports of the behavior of the US government. When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we're protecting you against criminals, not our own government.

"The US government should be the champion for the internet, not a threat. They need to be much more transparent about what they're doing, or otherwise people will believe the worst."

Critics might argue that Zuck has failed time and time again to build up trust with the 1.2 billion users on his network, following repeated privacy howlers that have somewhat characterised Facebook's decade-long relationship with the web.

But Zuck couldn't resist attacking the US administration for allegedly snooping on his massive, siloed data farm.

"I've called President Obama to express my frustration over the damage the government is creating for all of our future. Unfortunately, it seems like it will take a very long time for true full reform," he said resignedly. ®