Following the revelation of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that the government snoops on and collects information from technology and telecommunication companies, some big firms such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple have started releasing transparency reports to address concerns of their customers and users. On Wednesday, Verizon Communications jumped on the bandwagon, releasing its very first transparency report.
According to Verizon, it received 321,545 customer information requests from law enforcement agencies in the United States in 2013. The company revealed that the number is higher compared to requests received the previous year but it did not provide the 2012 figures for comparison. There were also requests from 13 countries where it operates.
"We do not release customer information unless authorized by law, such as a valid law enforcement demand or an appropriate request in an emergency involving the danger of death or serious physical injury," the report read.
"If a demand is facially invalid, or if a demand seeks certain information that can only be obtained with a different form of process (for example, a subpoena, rather than a warrant, improperly is used to seek stored customer content), we reject the demand. If a demand is overly broad or vague we will not produce any information, or will seek to narrow the scope of the demand and produce a subset of the information sought. In many cases we do not produce any information at all, including because the demand seeks information we do not have," the company explained the possibility of rejection of law enforcement requests.
By the numbers
The Verizon Transparency Report revealed that the total number of demands for customer data can be broken down to several forms of requests. There were 164,184 subpoenas; 70,665 court orders, 36,696 warrants; and around 50,000 emergency requests. There were also between 1000 to 1999 national security letters.
By law, the company is required to provide customer information when issued a valid subpoena. In Verizon's case, law enforcements want to find out about subscriber information or other information they need that show on the phone bill.
"More than half of the subpoenas we receive seek only subscriber information: that is, those subpoenas typically require us to provide the name and address of a customer assigned a given phone number or IP address. Other subpoenas also ask for certain transactional information, such as phone numbers that a customer called," the report clarified. "The types of information we can provide in response to a subpoena are limited by law. We do not release contents of communications (such as text messages or emails) or cell site location information in response to subpoenas."
The court orders received are broken down into 63,000 General Orders and 7,800 Pen/Trap Orders and WireTap Orders. The former mostly requests for basic information that can also be acquired by issuing subpoenas. The Pen/Trap Orders, on the other hand, are real-time access requests by law enforcers where they can access information as the numbers are dialled or real time access to numbers from incoming calls. There were also 1,500 wiretap requests received by Verizon in 2013.
The warrants received by the company last year requested for location information or stored content. Warrants are issued by the court only when law enforcement provides enough information or evidence to establish probable cause.
As for emergency requests, Verizon is required by law to provide information that may aid resolve emergencies provided certain precautions are taken.
"We are authorized by federal law to provide the requested information in such emergencies and we have an established process to respond to emergency requests, in accordance with the law. To request data during these emergencies, a law enforcement officer must certify in writing that there was an emergency involving the danger of death or serious physical injury to a person that required disclosure without delay. These emergency requests are made in response to active violent crimes, bomb threats, hostage situations, kidnappings and fugitive scenarios, often presenting life-threatening situations," the report expounded.
Due to the nature of national security letters, the company is not permitted to give the exact figures but these are requests for information that may affect national security and cannot be used for administrative, civil, or criminal matters.
Good job Verizon
Several advocacy groups have noticed the detailed report of the company and have praised the company for being transparent.
"With this report, Verizon has set a strong precedent for transparency within the telecommunications industry. The report has a level of detail that should be followed by other companies - including statistics on requests for location data, content, phone records, and cell tower dumps, as well as specifying the legal authorities used," said deputy director for Project on Freedom, Security and Technology of the Center for Democracy & Technology, Harley Geiger.
Geiger pointed out how the government restricts the company from revealing the information about national security requests. "...the U.S. government restricts transparency regarding national security requests. We believe the government should authorize detailed company reporting on these requests, and we support Verizon's pledge to provide more information if reforms are made," he added.
