At CNET, Declan McCullagh reports that the U.S. government has demanded that large Internet companies provide them with users’ stored passwords. The move represents “an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed,” he writes. “If the government is able to determine a person’s password, which is typically stored in encrypted form, the credential could be used to log in to an account to peruse confidential correspondence or even impersonate the user.” [CNET News]