Major Tech Companies Disclose Secret Court Orders for First Time

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By Fran Berkman2014-02-03 21:13:50 UTC

Several industry-leading tech companies are much more transparent about government surveillance requests than they were last week.

Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and LinkedIn have all provided statistics on government requests for user data issued through National Security Letters (NSLs) and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court orders. Internet communications companies were previously forbidden to release such data, until the U.S. government reached an agreement with several of the aforementioned companies, which was announced last week.

"Publishing these numbers is a step in the right direction, and speaks to the principles for reform that we announced with other companies last December," announces a Google blog post with the new disclosures. "But we still believe more transparency is needed so everyone can better understand how surveillance laws work and decide whether or not they serve the public interest."

Tech companies have banded together to press the government for increased transparency in recent months, in the wake of the string of Edward Snowden-fueled revelations on how the NSA taps the companies for user data dating back to June.

Google, Facebook and several other tech companies even sued the FISA court last year for the ability to publish more information; the companies dropped their motions last week after agreeing to new disclosure standards.

Under the new terms, companies have two options for disclosure. The first is to report the number of NSLs and FISA requests separately in ranges of 1,000. Alternatively, the companies can combine the two types of requests and report the aggregate number in ranges of 250. Each of the above-mentioned companies chose the first option.

The companies can further separate the FISA orders in content and non-content requests. Content requests means the government is asking for the full access to emails and other electronic communications. With non-content requests, the government can access metadata related to user accounts and communications. In addition, the new rules require a six-month delay between when the government submits FISA orders and when the companies can report them.

During the most recent reporting period, January through June 2013, Yahoo users were most affected by FISA requests of the six companies that updated their transparency numbers in the past week.

Yahoo FISA requests

Google followed Yahoo in accounts affected by FISA requests in the same time period. Google received between zero and 999 requests for content that affected between 9,000 and 9,999 accounts and between zero and 999 requests for non-content data that affected between 0 and 999 accounts.

Below, find the full reports for each company: