Verizon to publish info on records requests

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Verizon Communications Inc. says it will publish information on the number of requests for customer records it received from law-enforcement agencies this year.

The announcement Thursday from the country’s largest cellphone carrier comes as debate over data-gathering by the National Security Agency intensifies in Washington. The NSA’s collection of hundreds of millions of Americans’ phone records under secret court order was revealed in June in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Verizon says it will publish its report online early next year and update it twice a year.

The report will provide the total number of law-enforcement agency requests Verizon received in criminal cases, the company said. In addition, it will break that data into categories including subpoenas, court orders and warrants. Verizon said it also will provide other details about the requests for customer data.

“The aim of our transparency report is to keep our customers informed about government requests for their data and how we respond to those requests,” Randal Milch, Verizon’s executive vice president for public policy, said in a statement.

Several major Internet companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Yahoo publish periodic reports disclosing the number of requests from federal agencies and local police departments for personal data, which cover such things as email communications.