Yahoo!
confirms up to 13,000 US data requests
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.
18
June, 2013
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.
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