The U.S. surveillance scandal was one of the most controversial issues of the year, given that many telecom and electronics companies were involved. In the latest development, Verizon said it will be publishing reports about the requests the U.S. government made regarding the company's consumer data. This announcement follows the trend of some Silicon Valley companies opting to become more transparent about the surveillance issue.
Verizon said it will be releasing its 'Transparency Report' early next year. The announcement also states "it will identify the total number of law enforcement agency requests received from the government authorities in criminal cases."
While Verizon has made it clear that the company does not release customer information without the authorization of its customers, it has also stated that there are certain situations where it may be legally be forced to release certain information to law enforcement organizations.
"All companies are required to provide information to government agencies in certain circumstances," says Verizon Executive Vice President Randal S. Milch. "This report is intended to provide more transparency about law enforcement requests. Although we have a legal obligation to provide customer information to law enforcement in response to lawful demands, we take seriously our duty to provide such information only when authorized by law." Milch adds.
Earlier this year, companies like Google spearheaded the effort for transparency in the matter by releasing its own reports about the specific issue. Verizon in turn plans to release a similar report, which will be sorted by request type. The sorting will cover warrants, court orders as well as other types of requests.
The company has also asked permission from the U.S. government regarding the details they can disclose about the national security letters (NSL) the company received last year. While the government is currently not allowing the disclosure of the exact number of NSL a company receives, many tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook are currently pitched in legal battles with the government to bring to light the specifics of these letters. Companies are currently allowed only to release numerical ranges regarding the NSL they have received. NSL are letters received from a U.S. government agency demanding information related to national security. These letters does not require prior court approval, giving the government sweeping authority to demand financial and phone records.
