Facebook reported that in a six-month period ending December
31, 2012, it received between 9,000 and 10,000 requests from the US government
for user data on 18,000 to 19,000 accounts.
Google reported it received over 15,000 requests for data by
US-government officials in 2012 for information on over 30,000 accounts. It produced some data 88% of the time.
Microsoft (including Skype) reported 75,378 law-enforcement
requests for information on 137,424 accounts world-wide for the year 2012. In over 11,000 cases, they could find no data
to respond to the requests. Microsoft
disclosed non-content information in 56,388 cases, mostly to the US, UK,
Turkey, Germany, and France. In the US, Microsoft received 11,073 requests from
law enforcement for information on 24,565 accounts. Microsoft rejected 759 requests or 6.9% on
legal grounds. Microsoft provided user
content in 1544 cases and subscriber/transactional data in 7,196 cases.
Yahoo said that in the last six months of 2012 it received
between 12,000 and 13,000 requests for user data from law enforcement.
Conclusion
In a democracy, transparency and public participation are
critical. This is not just about "the
terrorists." This is about civil liberty
and government accountability. Hundreds
of thousands of people are being spied upon every year by our own government's
public admissions. There is little
oversight by judges and even less by Congress. If the government admits this much, you can
certainly assume there is more to come out.
It is time to wake up. These
secret subpoenas and secret courts and secret processes should be abolished or
fundamentally changed. Otherwise, change
the slogan on the dollar to "In Secrecy We Trust."
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