I hate to repeat a post, but the latest NSA revelations are more profound than I can describe

[joshcryer]

4. I knew SSL was compromised when they had REAL TIME FACEBOOK CHATS.

In other words, someone within the corporation is breaking SSL.

And the programmers and the top tech people weren't aware of it (even if a dozen two of them knew, it would cause at least one of them to come clean, as this is an absolute breach of security, and even violates the ToS of the given platforms).

SSL is not broken. But if a service provider provides the SSL keys, it becomes irrelevant. Lavabit closed down because the NSA was requesting SSL keys. The same likely happened with Google but rather than Google telling technology staff, they just kept it to a very small group of people. Google is not going to admit this but the hack had to have been internal as someone would've spotted it.

If, instead, Google was actually hacked, that would be beyond comprehension but I would have to think it was an insider at most that did it, someone paid by Google, someone working for Google, not an outside hacker breaking in and breaking SSL.