Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
The government and leading Internet companies on Monday announced a compromise that will allow those companies to reveal more information about how often they are ordered to turn over customer information to the government in national security investigations.
The Justice Department reached agreements with Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc., Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. that would resolve those companies’ legal challenges before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The companies had asked judges to allow them to disclose data on national security orders the companies have received under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The delivery of customer information to the government from Internet companies has been under examination in the U.S. after leaks about National Security Agency surveillance by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden.
Some of those companies were among several U.S. Internet businesses identified as giving the NSA access to customer data under the program known as PRISM.