Requests for Google User Account Info by Governments Are on the Rise

Requests worldwide have nearly doubled since 2010, data shows.

News Byte

Tech Firms Rally, Expecting Justice Department to Oppose Transparency Requests

Apple, Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Mozilla, Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, Yahoo and other tech companies today sent a letter to the heads of the U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committees in support of proposed legislation that would allow them to publish statistics about secret national security surveillance orders. The Center for Democracy & Technology, which organized the group, said the letter was timed to coincide with the U.S. Justice Department’s filing of a brief with the FISA court today opposing many of those companies’ requests to disclose information about when it asks them for user data.

News Byte

Dropbox Also Wants to Disclose National Security Requests

Like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook and LinkedIn before it, Dropbox on Monday asked the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) to lift its gag order on disclosure of national security requests. “We are talking here simply about aggregate numbers that should have been made public months ago,” says the amicus curiae brief.

Facebook, Google, Yahoo Push FISA Courts for More Data-Disclosure Transparency

More Valley prodding of Capitol Hill on issues of privacy and data requests.
searching for data

ATD Week in Review: The Brin-Wojcicki Split and Apple’s iPhone Trade-In

The week in AllThingsD, in one convenient post. You’re welcome!

Microsoft and Google Will Sue U.S. Government Over FISA Order Data

Saying negotiations with the government have failed, the two companies will now resort to the courts.

U.S. Government Gets Approval to Keep Tracking Phone Records

Well, at least this time they are telling everyone their phone records are being collected.

Microsoft Asks Attorney General to Intervene in Request to Disclose PRISM Info

“The Constitution itself is suffering.”

Secretive FISA Court Sides With Yahoo Over Disclosure of 2008 PRISM Case

Documents will show how the Internet company objected to PRISM.

Voices

Secret Court’s Redefinition of “Relevant” Empowered Vast NSA Data-Gathering

The National Security Agency’s ability to gather phone data on millions of Americans hinges on a secret court ruling that redefined a single word: “relevant.”

Senate Passes "Eye of Sauron" Act