We’re sure that there are many of you guys out there who are curious as to what sort of data tech companies such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft provide to government agencies like the NSA. Unfortunately this kind of information, for the most part, tends to be quite secretive in nature and potentially controversial. Well the good news is that Apple and the US Department of Justice have recently reached a deal in which Apple is now allowed to be more transparent with its customers regarding information on surveillance requests. Earlier Apple’s CEO Tim Cook stated that he would love to be more transparent with their customers but could not simply due to certain restrictions put into place.
However according to the new deal, “As indicated in the Justice Department’s filing with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the administration is acting to allow more detailed disclosures about the number of national security orders and requests issued to communications providers, and the number of customer accounts targeted under those orders and requests including the underlying legal authorities. Through these new reporting methods, communications providers will be permitted to disclose more information than ever before to their customers.” With the rumors that tech companies are working with the NSA to provide intel and data on customers, the need to be transparent is greater than ever, and hopefully this deal will allow just that.
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