Yahoo Shares Big Brother’s Data Request Stats

Recent news concerning the US government prying into personal records with the help of technology companies – it does not matter if you are an Apple fanboy or a diehard Google supporter, they are all apparently in cahoots with the US government. Yahoo is not spared the blushes, either, and Marissa Mayer, CEO and Ron Bell, General Counsel, of Yahoo, have stepped forward with a statement that will hopefully appease one’s anger to a certain degree somewhat.

“We’ve worked hard over the years to earn our users’ trust and we fight hard to preserve it. To that end, we are disclosing the total number of requests for user data that law enforcement agencies in the U.S. made to us between December 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013. During that time period, we received between 12,000 and 13,000 requests, inclusive of criminal, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and other requests. The most common of these requests concerned fraud, homicides, kidnappings, and other criminal investigations.”

Yahoo claims that they are doing their level best to ask the federal government to reconsider their stance on the privacy issue, and Yahoo intends to shore up their accountability among users by rolling out their first global law enforcement transparency report later this year. This particular report will be refreshed twice a year.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Computers
Tags: Yahoo