BEIJING, Feb. 28 -- The U.S. government exercises massive and unrestrained information tapping over its citizens, according to the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2013 released on Friday.

The report was released by the Information Office of China's State Council, or the Cabinet, in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 issued by the U.S. State Department on Thursday.

The report said, Edward Snowden, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee, revealed a tapping program carried out by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the U.S., code-named PRISM.

Under the program, the U.S. intelligence, by virtue of data provided by nine Internet companies, including the Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Yahoo, and other major telecom providers, tracked citizens' private contacts and social activities recklessly, according to the report.

The report also cited the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Guardian, Spiegel Online, and other news organizations' reports, saying the scrutiny program "exposed large amount of citizens' privacy to the government."

The Human Rights Record also accused U.S. prisons of treating inmates inhumanely.

It said the use of solitary confinement is prevalent in U.S. prisons and inmates in solitary confinements are enclosed in cramped cells with poor ventilation and natural lights, isolated from other prisoners, a situation that will take tolls on inmates' physical and mental health.

Moreover, the report pointed out, the checks-and-balances system has become an impediment to actions.

On October 1, 2013, the U.S. federal government, except for its core functions, entered a shutdown, after the Democrats and Republicans failed to resolve their differences surrounding budget for the new fiscal year.

It also criticized, "election becomes the game of a few" in the U.S., "A great number of researches showed that the American's influence on policy is proportional to their wealth. About 70 percent of the population, who are on the lower wealth and income scale, have virtually no influence on policy whatsoever. They are effectively disenfranchised."