When you’re implicated in a massive government scandal involving security breaches and privacy, you’re going to want to do whatever if takes to prove your innocence. That’s what Google, Facebook and Microsoft want to do. The tech giants have all publicly asked the National Security Agency (NSA) to allow it publish Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests.
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In its request, Google asks the United States government to wave its non-disclosure agreements around requests made to the internet company so it can reveal that it has not been handing over user data to the NSA.
We therefore ask you to help make it possible for Google to publish in our Transparency Report aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures—in terms of both the number we receive and their scope. Google’s numbers would clearly show that our compliance with these requests falls far short of the claims being made. Google has nothing to hide.
Facebook followed suit by asking the government to be more transparent in its dealings with public safety:
…we strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent about all programs aimed at keeping the public safe. In the past, we have questioned the value of releasing a transparency report that, because of exactly these types of government restrictions on disclosure, is necessarily incomplete and therefore potentially misleading to users. We would welcome the opportunity to provide a transparency report that allows us to share with those who use Facebook around the world a complete picture of the government requests we receive, and how we respond. We urge the United States government to help make that possible by allowing companies to include information about the size and scope of national security requests we receive, and look forward to publishing a report that includes that information.
Microsoft also put in its bid for transparency with an emailed statement to Reuters news agency:
Permitting greater transparency on the aggregate volume and scope of national security requests, including FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) orders, would help the community understand and debate these important issues. Our recent report went as far as we legally could and the government should take action to allow companies to provide additional transparency.
Last week, the Guardian and the Washington Post reported on PRISM, a programme that allowed the US government to request information from the largest tech companies in the world: Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo, AOL, and Apple. This included access to emails, videos, photos, voice chats, login notifications under an approved FISA Court warrant. All the mentioned companies have strongly denied that they have complied with these requests but so far only Google, Facebook and Microsoft have asked to be allowed to publish proof.
