Microsoft and Google are requesting permission to publish data about the number of requests

Microsoft and Google are requesting permission to publish data on the number of requests received from the Government

Companies believe that the government has no evidence that the disclosure of statistical data could harm the state.

In the Monday, September 9, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! and Facebook are applied to the Court for the U.S. intelligence (US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, FISC) for permission to publish statistics on the number of requests received by companies from the government. Microsoft and Google filed a petition for disclosure of these data are still many weeks ago, but their case was postponed at the request of the government. Negotiations with the government companies have failed, so the proceedings will FISC.


The petition, filed by Microsoft and Google on September 9 this year, specify which data the company wants to open. To the request also joined Yahoo! and Facebook. Representatives of the companies believe that the government has no evidence that the disclosure of statistical data on the number of queries may harm the public interest. Moreover, the prohibition of the publication of this data would be a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of speech.

Facebook asks the court for permission to publish the following information:

1. The total number of orders received by the company court to issue user data for 6 months (warrant issuance of business information, to listen, and so on).

2. The total number of accounts whose information requested special services.

3. The total amount received from the government's directives regarding §1881a of the U.S. Code (US Code).

4. Number of accounts, details of which the government required to issue, according to the above paragraph.

5. The number of requests for the issuance of the message content, as well as information about the user.

Yahoo! and Google have requested permission for the disclosure of such data:

1. The number of inquiries regarding the sections I and III, as well as Articles 703 and 704 of the Foreign Intelligence United States (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA).

2. The number of inquiries regarding Article 702 of the Foreign Intelligence United States.

3. The number of inquiries regarding article 12, section V of the Foreign Intelligence dollars (about business records).

4. The number of inquiries regarding the article IY of the Foreign Intelligence United States.

As for Microsoft, the company intends to disclose the amount of governmental orders and directives for the release of information about the users, as well as the number of affected accounts.