Despite increasing public outcry against surveillance on businesses and consumers, governments around the world continue to make information requests to technology companies -- and the number of requests being made is also on the rise.
Facebook has just released the report on data requests of government agencies, released every six months, showing that administrations are not backing down amid calls to scale back on their requests for user information.
The report, which covers January to June 2014, reveals that governments made a total of 34,946 data requests during the period, with the United States government making the most number of requests, or almost half of the number. This is a 24 percent increase from the previous period from July to December 2013, when government agencies made a total of 28,147 data requests. Facebook also says that the amount of censored content rose by 19 percent since the previous period.
American government agencies, the report says, made a total of 15,433 data requests, up from the 12,598 made during the last period. Facebook says majority of these requests account for search warrants and subpoenas, and that Facebook was able to provide at least some data on 80.15 percent of all requests.
Twitter and Google, which also publish their own transparency reports, revealed a similar uptick in the number of requests. Twitter says it has received 2,058 requests during the last half-year period, a 68 percent increase from the 1,410 requests it received in the previous period. Google also says data requests rose 15 percent to 31,698 from the 27,477 in July to December 2013.
In the U.S., government agencies try to assure citizens that all government requests for information are within legal bounds. However, Facebook deputy general counsel Chris Sonderby says the social network "scrutinizes" every data request to make sure agencies are complying with privacy laws.
"As we've said before, we scrutinize every government request we receive for legal sufficiency under our terms and the strict letter of the law, and push back hard when we find deficiencies or are served with overly broad requests," says Sonderby in a blog post.
Facebook's report comes amid wrangling of the New York state courts, which granted a search warrant that swept across 381 Facebook users in a case involving fraudulent disability benefits claimants. Authorities were able to obtain posts, photos and private messages from these accounts proving the claimants were, in fact, healthy. Only 62 of the said users were charged.
Now, Facebook has elevated its case to the appellate court where it is asking that government agencies return or delete the information that was submitted to them.
"We believe all government data requests must be narrowly tailored, proportionate to the case, and subject to strict judicial oversight," Sonderby said at that time. "Moreover, we believe search warrants for digital information should be specific and narrow in scope, just like warrants for physical evidence. These restrictions are critical to preventing overreaching legal requests and protecting people's information."
