Facebook got 10,000 requests for data from NSA in just six months (and Microsoft received 7,000 orders)

Facebook and Microsoft were able to reveal limited information on Friday night about the government orders they have received to turn over user data to security agencies.



Ted Ullyot, Facebook's general counsel, said in a statement that they had between 9,000 and 10,000 requests from all government entities, from local to federal, in the last six months of 2012.

The orders involved the accounts of between 18,000 and 19,000 Facebook users on a broad range of surveillance topics, from missing children to terrorism.



Microsoft said they had between 6,000 and 7,000 orders, affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 accounts, but downplayed how much they had revealed.



Looking on? Facebook received government data requests that involved the accounts of 18,000 and 19,000 Facebook users

Data: Microsoft said they had between 6,000 and 7,000 government orders, affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 accounts, but downplayed how much they revealed

The announcements come at the end of a week when Facebook, Microsoft and Google, normally rivals, had jointly pressured the Obama administration to loosen their legal gag on national security orders.

The companies are still not allowed to make public how many orders they received from a particular agency or on a particular subject.

But the numbers do include all national security related requests including those submitted via national security letters and under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which companies had not previously been allowed to reveal.

The companies remain barred from revealing whether they've actually received FISA requests, and can only say that any they've received are included in the total reported figures.

'We continue to believe that what we are permitted to publish continues to fall short of what is needed to help the community understand and debate these issues,' John Frank, Microsoft's vice president and deputy general counsel said in a statement.

Ullyot said Facebook is only allowed to talk about total numbers. But he added that the permission it has received is still unprecedented, and the company was lobbying to reveal more.

Whistleblower: All these actions came after Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old American who worked as a contract employee at the NSA, revealed the existence of secret surveillance programs that gathered Americans' phone records and other data

Defense: Facebook repeated recent assurances that the company scrutinizes every government request, and works aggressively to protect users' data at its HQ in Menlo Park, California

He explained that the subject of the requests 'run the gamut' ranging from 'things like a local sheriff trying to find a missing child, to a federal marshal tracking a fugitive, to a police department investigating an assault, to a national security official investigating a terrorist threat.'



Facebook repeated recent assurances that the company scrutinizes every government request, and works aggressively to protect users' data. It said it has a compliance rate of 79% on government requests.

In a statement on June 7, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said: 'We strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent about all programs aimed at keeping the public safe.



It's the only way to protect everyone's civil liberties and create the safe and free society we all want over the long term.'



Ullyot said: 'We frequently reject such requests outright, or require the government to substantially scale down its requests, or simply give the government much less data than it has requested.'

'And we respond only as required by law,' the attorney confirmed.

Both Frank and Ullyot emphasized in their statements that those affected by the orders represent a 'tiny fraction' of their huge user bases.

Google did not release its own numbers, saying late Friday that it was waiting to be able to reveal more specific and meaningful information.

Concerns: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said on June 7: 'We strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent about all programs aimed at keeping the public safe.'

'We have always believed that it's important to differentiate between different types of government requests,' Google said in a statement.



'We already publish criminal requests separately from national security letters. Lumping the two categories together would be a step back for users.



'Our request to the government is clear: to be able to publish aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures, separately.'

All these actions came after Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old American who worked as a contract employee at the NSA, revealed the existence of secret surveillance programs that gathered Americans' phone records and other data.

