Ride the Lightning

Tech Companies Notifying Users About Secret Government Data Requests

May 6, 2014

The Washington Post has reported that some of America's largest tech companies are refusing to comply with secret governmental demands for information and data. Instead, they’re telling users that they’re being targeted.

Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google have taken this stance, distancing themselves from the government, probably in light of last year’s revelations about the National Security Administration's warrantless surveillance program.

“Later this month, Apple will update its policies so that in most cases when law enforcement requests personal information about a customer, the customer will receive a notification from Apple,” company spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said. According to the Post, Microsoft and Facebook are also working on similar updates to their policies. Meanwhile, Google and Twitter have already had policies in place informing targets of governmental inquiries though Google recently updated its policy to exclude notification when there is imminent risk of physical harm to a possible crime victim.

Cellular carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon, usually do not inform customers that they have been targeted by a governmental request for data. Lagging behind guys – time to play catch up here.

Prosecutors are not happy with this development, maintaining that tech companies are giving targets valuable time to destroy electronic evidence before it can be gathered. “These risks of endangering life, risking destruction of evidence, or allowing suspects to flee or intimidate witnesses are not merely hypothetical, but unfortunately routine,” Department of Justice spokesman Peter Carr said.

My take? They always sing that song, with precious little evidence to support it.

The updated policies do not affect data requests approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which are secret by law. The policies also don’t cover national security letters, which are FBI administrative subpoenas that cover national security investigations and carry binding gag orders. Happily, most government requests do not come in under these circumstances (at least not yet!) so the steps taken by American companies to notify users are a breath of fresh air.

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