[Infowarrior] - Dropbox transparency report shows continued interest from governments

[Richard Forno]

Dropbox transparency report shows continued interest from governments

Weather report shows moon likely to rise some time around sunset
By Dave Neal
Thu Jan 29 2015, 14:58  

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2392716/dropbox-transparency-report-shows-continued-interest-from-governments
               
DROPBOX has released its latest transparency report and revealed details of data requests from the US government as well as from overseas agencies.

The Dropbox Transparency Report revealed that the company dealt with 275 requests from law enforcement agencies during the six months to 31 December 2014, and told users about this when it was legally allowed to.

"At Dropbox, we want to be as transparent as possible about government requests for user information," the firm said.

"We publish a Transparency Report twice a year to share the number of requests we've received, and we've laid out principles that guide how we handle these requests.

"Since today is international Data Privacy Day, it's a perfect time to provide you with an update."

Dropbox said that 20 of the 275 demands in the past six months related to requests from agencies outside the US, and that the company was served with 135 search warrants relating to over 250 accounts, two court orders and 116 subpoenas.

National security-related demands can be counted only in bands, and Dropbox said that there were somewhere between zero and 249 requests.

Dropbox suggested that governments will often demand information when they have no right to.

"Governments continue to request that we not notify users of requests for their data, even when there is no legal basis for the requests," the firm said.

"We received 71 such requests between July and December 2014 and responded by informing the requesting agency of our policy to always provide notice unless prohibited by a valid court order (or equivalent)."

Demands from outside the US do not appear to have affected any accounts. Two were sent by UK agencies, and the remaining 18 by countries including Malta, India, Germany and France.

Dropbox was spared any demands to take down any stored information during the period, but did have to let a requesting agency know that it had sent its demands to the wrong service provider.

The report shows that the firm acquiesced when it had to, and informed punters when it could. µ

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