Yahoo! made an announcement yesterday in a blog post signed by chief executive officer Marrissa Mayer and general counsel Ron Bell that it received between 12,000 and 13,000 requests for information from the U.S. authorities during the period December 1st and May 31st, 2013. Apple had received between 4000 and 5,000 requests from the U.S. authorities for the same 6-month period.
Requests for information based on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were made mostly for “fraud, homicides, kidnappings and other criminal investigations,” said Yahoo! letter published on the company’s Tumblr blog.
According to the letter, entitled ” Our Commitment to Our Users’ Privacy,” this number includes all types of inquiries.
“Like all companies, Yahoo! cannot lawfully break out FISA request numbers at this time because those numbers are classified; however, we strongly urge the federal government to reconsider its stance on this issue,” continues the letter.
Large Internet groups have experienced users’ distrust after revelations of Edward Snowden, a former consultant to the National Security Agency (NSA), according to whom they provided personal data under the intelligence program PRISM. The companies, including Apple, Google, Facebook and Yahoo!, have denied allegations that NSA has direct access to their servers. According to the U.S. authorities, the program was designed to help prevent the occurrence of terrorist attacks.
In the blog post, Yahoo! also announced that it ” will issue later this summer our first global law enforcement transparency report, which will cover the first half of the year,” and it “will refresh this report with current statistics twice a year.”
The letter end on a positive note, promising that “As always, we will continually evaluate whether further actions can be taken to protect the privacy of our users and our ability to defend it. We appreciate—and do not take for granted—the trust you place in us.”
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