Yahoo exec challenges NSA director over spying

A senior Yahoo Inc. executive confronted NSA director Adm. Mike Rogers on Monday over the use of "backdoors" in U.S. products that allow government agencies to decrypt online communications.

During a cybersecurity summit on Monday, Yahoo's chief information security officer, Alex Stamos, asked Rogers whether companies such as Yahoo should build backdoors into their systems for countries such as Russia and China if they also build them for the United States.

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"My position is, hey look, I think No. 1 this is technically feasible," Rogers said. "Now, it needs to be done within a framework. I'm the first to acknowledge that. You don't want the FBI and you don't want the NSA unilaterally deciding what we are going to access, and what are we not going to access."

Yahoo spokeswoman Suzanne Philion told CNBC that Stamos was asking Rogers a follow-up question after another participant commented about backdoors.

"His questions speak for themselves," she said.

CNBC's Eamon Javers contributed to this story.