Facebook, Microsoft reveal details of US data requests

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Protesters blow wistles as they march to the US consulate during a protest in support of Edward Snowden in Hong Kong yesterday. Inset, a child holds a cut out of Snowden during the protest. Snowden, a former CIA technical assistant, is in hiding in Hong Kong after he arrived in the city on May 20 and blew the lid on a vast electronic surveillance operation by the US National Security

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.
Facebook said it got between 9,000 and 10,000 requests targeting between 18,000 and 19,000 accounts during that period.
“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” ,” Ted Ullyot, Facebook’s general counsel, said in a post Friday night.
Google publishes a transparency report using requests from governments worldwide. It said grouping information is a “step back” for users.
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 US governmental entities (including local, state and federal),” said John Frank, Microsoft’s vice president.
However, both companies said the information they were allowed to publish falls short of what users need to better understand the issues.
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.
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 US 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.
Edward Snowden, 29, has admitted leaking the classified documents about the covert programs.US has claimed the top-secret program is legal.
Civil liberties groups and legislators are among critics condemning the program as government overreach beyond the intention and limits of the Patriot Act originally passed in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks.

Source: The Daily Star