Six major technology companies publish new statistics on National Security letters and FISA Court requests made of them. February 3, 2014 1:48 PM PST Google's FISA request charts show a spike in requested information. (Credit: Google) Google and other top tech firms are beginning to flex their transparency muscles a bit, following the resolution of a lawsuit last week against the US Department of Justice to allow them to reveal more about national security data demands made of them. Related stories: NSA's warrantless surveillance gets a constitutional challenge With NSA reform, what does more disclosure from tech firms mean? Court order allowing NSA data collection program revealed Google: We're bombarded by gov't requests on user data Warrantless surveillance law may face test in criminal case On Monday, six major companies -- Google, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Facebook, and LinkedIn -- revealed more information about government requests made with National Security Administration letters. The letters can request both content-related material, and non-content, which can refer to name, age, and location data of user accounts. Revealed customer account requests can not be specific, and are limited to being reported in blocks of 1,000. "Today, for the first time, our report on government requests for user information encompasses all of the requests we receive, subject only to delays imposed by the Department of Justice regarding how quickly we can include certain requests in our statistics," wrote Richard Salgado, Google's legal director of its Law Enforcement and Information Security division. Salgado also included a request to Congress to change the laws so that tech firms can reveal specific numbers. "The new information we are releasing today marks a significant step forward," said Facebook's general counsel, Colin Stretch. Facebook also saw a jump in requested information from the government. Currently, the tech company disclosures only reveal an imprecise summary: 12,000 to 12,999 user accounts requested by FISA content requests, for example, during July to December 2012. That number, by the way, represents the peak in a spike of affected accounts at Google. Other companies saw a similar rise in FISA requests during the same period. Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, struck a more contrarian tone in his blog post by noting that not all orders received by Microsoft resulted in information being disclosed to the government. "Microsoft has successfully challenged requests in court, and we will continue to contest orders that we believe lack legal validity," he said. Across the board, all the charts show that NSA requests for data have not only increased over time, but that they spiked in requested information around a year ago.
Six major technology companies publish new statistics on National Security letters and FISA Court requests made of them.
Google's FISA request charts show a spike in requested information.
(Credit: Google)
Google and other top tech firms are beginning to flex their transparency muscles a bit, following the resolution of a lawsuit last week against the US Department of Justice to allow them to reveal more about national security data demands made of them.
Related stories:
- NSA's warrantless surveillance gets a constitutional challenge
- With NSA reform, what does more disclosure from tech firms mean?
- Court order allowing NSA data collection program revealed
- Google: We're bombarded by gov't requests on user data
- Warrantless surveillance law may face test in criminal case
On Monday, six major companies -- Google, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Facebook, and LinkedIn -- revealed more information about government requests made with National Security Administration letters. The letters can request both content-related material, and non-content, which can refer to name, age, and location data of user accounts. Revealed customer account requests can not be specific, and are limited to being reported in blocks of 1,000.
"Today, for the first time, our report on government requests for user information encompasses all of the requests we receive, subject only to delays imposed by the Department of Justice regarding how quickly we can include certain requests in our statistics," wrote Richard Salgado, Google's legal director of its Law Enforcement and Information Security division.
Salgado also included a request to Congress to change the laws so that tech firms can reveal specific numbers.
"The new information we are releasing today marks a significant step forward," said Facebook's general counsel, Colin Stretch.
Facebook also saw a jump in requested information from the government.
Currently, the tech company disclosures only reveal an imprecise summary: 12,000 to 12,999 user accounts requested by FISA content requests, for example, during July to December 2012. That number, by the way, represents the peak in a spike of affected accounts at Google. Other companies saw a similar rise in FISA requests during the same period.
Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, struck a more contrarian tone in his blog post by noting that not all orders received by Microsoft resulted in information being disclosed to the government. "Microsoft has successfully challenged requests in court, and we will continue to contest orders that we believe lack legal validity," he said.
Across the board, all the charts show that NSA requests for data have not only increased over time, but that they spiked in requested information around a year ago.
