Internet firms release data on NSA spy requests

Internet firms release data on NSA spy requests

WASHINGTON (AP) — Freed by a recent legal deal with government lawyers, major technology firms released new data today on how often they are ordered to turn over customer information for secret national security investigations – figures that show that the government collected data on thousands of Americans. The publications disclosed by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn and Tumblr provided expanded details and some vented criticism about the government’s handling of customers’ Internet data in counter-terrorism and other intelligence-related probes. The figures from 2012 and 2013 showed that companies, such as Google and Microsoft, were compelled by the government to provide information on as many as 10,000 customer accounts in a six-month period. Yahoo complied with government requests for information on more than 40,000 accounts in the same period.