Google CEO denies company’s involvement in PRISM

In this undated photo made available by Google, Denise Harwood diagnoses an overheated computer processor at Google’s data center in The Dalles, Ore. Google uses these data centers to store email, photos, video, calendar entries and other information shared by its users. These centers also process the hundreds of millions of searches that Internet users make on Google each day. AP Photo

SAN FRANCISCO— Google CEO Larry Page is denying reports linking the Internet search company to a secret government program that has provided the National Security Agency access to email and other personal information transmitted on various online services.

In a post on Google’s blog, Page says the company hasn’t joined any government program allowing the NSA to mine its computers for personal data about users of its search engine, Gmail service or YouTube video service.

Page’s assertion contradicts reports published late Thursday by The Washington Post and The Guardian tying Google Inc. and six other technology companies to a clandestine snooping program code named PRISM.

In his post co-written with Google’s top lawyer, Page wrote that any suggestion that Google is giving user information on a broad scale is “completely false.”