Yahoo! Inc. said US law enforcement agencies had made between 12,000 and 13,000 request for user data over the last six months, making it the latest tech firm to reveal the extent of its involvement in the sweeping US surveillance program.
In a bid to reassure users following revelations of the National
Security Agency’s (NSA) PRISM program, which targeted electronic
communications en masse, Yahoo! revealed the extent of its
dealings with US authorities.
The tech company reports that between December 1, 2012 and May
31, 2013, “we received between 12,000 and 13,000 requests,
inclusive of criminal, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
(FISA), and other requests. The most common of these
requests concerned fraud, homicides, kidnappings, and other
criminal investigations,” a statement by CEO Marissa Mayer
and General Counsel Ron Bell read.
The company lamented that due to the classified nature of FISA requests, they were unable to reveal the number of requests directly tied to national security.
"We strongly urge the federal government to reconsider its
stance on this issue," the statement continued.
Late Sunday, Apple said it had received between 4,000 and 5,000
requests from US authorities over the same time period,
continuing that 9,000 to 10,000 accounts or devices were
specified in the requests.
Facebook and Microsoft had previously disclosed requests for the second half of 2012.
Facebook said it received between 9,000 and 10,000 requests from
all US entities, including US authorities over a six month period
ending December 31.
Microsoft, meanwhile, said it received between 6,000 and 7,000 criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 consumer accounts over the same period.
Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who blew the lid on two NSA data-collection programs, alleged that the agency had unfettered, real-time access to the content on the servers of Google, Facebook Microsoft, Yahoo and five other tech giants.
The companies have denied the claims, stating the so-called FISA 'gag order' tied their hands when it came to providing greater transparency regarding government requests for customer information.
Google's Chief Legal Officer David Drummond wrote a letter addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI chief Robert Mueller asking the firm be granted permission to publish both the number and scope of national security requests, including disclosures under FISA.
Government restrictions on disclosure of such data have fueled
speculation "that our compliance with these requests gives the
US government unfettered access to our users' data," PC world
cites Drummond as saying. Apple further dismissed Snowden’s
accusations they handed data over to the government at will,
saying: "Only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the
narrowest possible set of information to the authorities."
Facebook's general counsel Ted Ullyot further denied they
colluded with the government on such a widespread scale.
"We aggressively protect our users' data when confronted with such requests; we frequently reject such requests outright, or require the government to substantially scale down its requests, or simply give the government much less data than it has requested."
On Sunday during a live Q&A with the Guardian, Snowden repudiated
the tech firms attempts to downplay their role in the
surveillance program.
“Their denials went through several revisions as it become
more and more clear they were misleading and included identical,
specific language across companies. As a result of these
disclosures and the clout of these companies, we're finally
beginning to see more transparency and better details about these
programs for the first time since their inception,” Snowden
argued.
Snowden went so far to state that legal pressure from the
government did not absolve the firm from broader ethical
responsibilities.
“They are legally compelled to comply and maintain their
silence in regard to specifics of the program, but that does not
comply them from ethical obligation. If for example Facebook,
Google, Microsoft, and Apple refused to provide this cooperation
with the Intelligence Community, what do you think the government
would do? Shut them down?”
Yahoo! for its part said “Democracy demands
accountability,” pledging the company would “continually
evaluate whether further actions can be taken to protect the
privacy of our users and our ability to defend it.”
Yahoo further announced plans to issue its first global
law-enforcement transparency report later this summer and will
update biannually with fresh statistics.