Is it possible that the CEOs are in fact telling the truth, but are unaware/ignorant that at the carrier level (before reaching the ingress points), data headed to their respective networks/server farms is being "copied"?

Does Google, Apple, Skype, etc. physically own Internet infrastructure, or are they all leased lines from carriers?

If they owned any physical "lines", and the gov was tapping into these lines, then they would be lying about the direct access claim.

But if they don't own these lines, it seems the companies can't do anything about it, and that the telcos are the villains.

Apologies in advance if I'm oversimplifying.