Facebook, Microsoft disclose information on user data requests
LONDON. June 15. KAZINFORM Technology giants Facebook and Microsoft disclosed that they received thousands of requests for user data from government agencies in the United States in the last half of 2012, CNN published.
Facebook said it got between 9,000 and 10,000 requests targeting between 18,000 and 19,000 accounts during that period.
"These requests run the gamut -- from things like a local sheriff trying to find a missing child, to a federal marshal tracking a fugitive, to a police department investigating an assault, to a national security official investigating a terrorist threat," Ted Ullyot, Facebook's general counsel, said in a post Friday night
"With more than 1.1 billion monthly active users worldwide, this means that a tiny fraction of 1% of our user accounts were the subject of any kind of U.S. state, local, or federal U.S. government requests."
The disclosure comes amid a firestorm over revelations that both were among companies that turned over user data to the National Security Agency's web surveillance program.
The U.S. government has a sweeping system for monitoring emails, photos, search histories and other data from major American Internet companies, including Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Skype.
Facebook has been in talks with U.S. officials to seek greater transparency on national security-related orders, Ullyot said.
In an effort to combat criticism, Microsoft also disclosed information on its data requests Friday night.
"For the six months ended December 31, 2012, Microsoft received between 6,000 and 7,000 criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 consumer accounts from U.S. governmental entities (including local, state and federal)," said John Frank, Microsoft's vice president.
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Though both companies said they released the information with permission from the government, Microsoft said what it was allowed to publish falls short of what users need to understand the issues.
"We are permitted to publish data on national security orders received, but only if aggregated with law enforcement requests from all other U.S. local, state and federal law enforcement agencies," Frank said.
Obama administration officials have pushed back against criticism on the domestic surveillance in the aftermath of the classified leaks last week that disclosed details of covert surveillance programs.
Edward Snowden , 29, has admitted leaking the classified documents about the covert programs.
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