[Infowarrior] - Verizon to publish reports on surveillance requests, wants to detail NSA efforts

[Richard Forno]

Verizon to publish reports on surveillance requests, wants to detail NSA efforts

By Cecilia Kang

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/verizon-to-publish-reports-on-surveillance-requests-wants-to-detail-nsa-efforts/2013/12/19/d9b38a06-68e4-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_print.html

Verizon Communications said Thursday that it will begin to publish reports early next year on the number of government requests it receives for customer data, setting a significant precedent for the telecommunications industry that has kept that information private.

Verizon, the nation’s biggest wireless provider, has been under immense pressure from shareholders and privacy groups after revelations that the National Security Agency obtained mountains of private information from the company as well as other telecommunication firms, including AT&T, according to leaked documents by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Those disclosures have damaged the reputation of U.S. communications companies around the world.

Privacy advocates have long complained that the telecom industry is far more cooperative with government surveillance efforts than technology firms such as Google and Twitter.

The company will become the first in the telecom industry to provide details on the practice of government demands for data. Internet companies such as Microsoft, Facebook and Apple already publish transparency reports that include how many federal, state and local demands for data they receive.

Such transparency reports offer only broad ranges of government requests, including those from local police departments, the FBI and the NSA. The reports do not provide an agency-by-agency breakdown, though several companies have gone to court for the right to offer more detailed information.

Bound by court orders by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, these companies have so far been prevented from detailing the number of requests by the NSA. But Verizon said it is in talks with government officials to do so.

“In the past year, there has been greater focus than ever on the use of legal demands by governments around the world to obtain customer data,” Randal S. Milch, Verizon’s general counsel, said in a blog post.

“Like others in the industry, the aim of our transparency report is to keep our customers informed about government requests for their data and how we respond to those requests. Verizon calls on governments around the world to provide more information on the types and amounts of data they collect and the legal processes that apply when they do so,” Milch said.

Verizon said its first report on 2013 data will be released early next year and updates will be done semi-annually.

Shareholders of AT&T and Verizon have demanded the companies disclose NSA data requests, saying the firms’ participation in an NSA surveillance program has hurt their reputation with customers.

Stockholders and a number of privacy advocates applauded Verizon’s most recent move and urged the rest of the telecom industry to follow suit.

“They are first telecom company to do this which is significant and we are gratified that at least initially Verizon seems to be taking the steps we put forward in our resolutions for Verizon and AT&T,” said Jonas Kron, a senior vice president for Trillium Asset Management. Trillium filed a shareholder resolution to Verizon’s board, demanding transparency reports.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has also called for greater public disclosure of data requests by government.

In the past two years, Markey privately obtained the data through his own investigation of telecommunications companies.

“For the past two years, I have queried the major wireless carriers for this information, and the data they have provided to me has been eye-opening. We clearly need more sunlight in this area,” Markey said in a statement.


Follow The Post’s new tech blog, The Switch, where technology and policy connect.

© The Washington Post Company


---
Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.