Microsoft and Facebook said Friday night that they have been allowed to release some general information on just how many requests the tech giants have received from the government for user data.
Since the NSA’s PRISM program was revealed on June 6, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and other tech giants have denied cooperating with the program. According to reports on the program, these companies had allowed the NSA wide access to user data, but the companies all said that this was not true and they they had never even heard of PRISM.
Earlier this week, Google, Microsoft and Facebook sent requests to the Department of Justice to allow them to release the requests for user data they received from the government. While google didn’t say anything Friday night, Facebook attorney Ted Ullyot confirmed that the DOJ would allow them to made some general information public.
According to CBS News, Ullyot said that the company had received between 9,000 and 10,000 requests in a six month period that ended on Dec. 31, 2012. The subjects ranged from suspected terrorists to missing children. Facebook is hoping to get permission to reveal more information.
Ullyot assured that “With more than 1.1 billion monthly active users worldwide, this means that a tiny fraction of one percent of our user accounts were the subject of any kind of U.S. state, local, or federal U.S. government request (including criminal and national security-related requests) in the past six months.”
He added, “We hope this helps put into perspective the numbers involved, and lays to rest some of the hyperbolic and false assertions in some recent press accounts about the frequency and scope of the data requests that we receive.”
John Frank, Microsoft's vice president and deputy general counsel, also released a statement, reports Fox News. Microsoft said it received between 6,000 and 7,000 warrants, orders and subpoenas linked to 31,000 to 32,000 user accounts. Like Facebook, Microsoft said that this only reflects a small portion of its users.
The NSA program was leaked by Edward Snowden, 29, and published by the British newspaper the Guardian.