14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has revealed that the US government has asked for data on between 18,000 and 19,000 users in response to some 9,000 to 10,000 requests, in the last six months of 2012.
This comes after leaked NSA documents seemed to indicate that the spy agency had direct access to the servers of Facebook and several other large tech companies.
The companies denied the claims, but couldn't provide more details since they are prohibited by law from disclosing anything on several types of secret requests, FISA court requests – regularly used by the NSA and other intelligence agencies, and National Security Letters – requests for data which require no warrant or court supervision, issued by the FBI.
Facebook and others pleaded with the government to be allowed to disclose more. In the light of those negotiations, Facebook is able to provide these numbers.
However, it is only allowed to do so in aggregate. The 10,000 requests include every request at all levels, local, state, and federal. It doesn't actually say anything about the number of secret requests that are people most interested in.
"These requests run the gamut – 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's General Counsel Ted Ullyot explained.
The numbers do manage to shed some light on the matter, at most, 19,000 people were targeted. That's not a small number, but Facebook has 1.1 billion monthly active users, so 19,000 is quite insignificant.
Still, thankfully, Facebook is trying to get even more from the government, permission to disclose the number of secret requests being the ultimate goal.
"This is progress, but we’re continuing to push for even more transparency, so that our users around the world can understand how infrequently we are asked to provide user data on national security grounds," he added.
Facebook hasn't actually complied with all those requests. In fact, the Wall Street Journal says it complied, in part at least, with about 79 percent of the requests. Microsoft too has revealed the same type of broad number on user data requests, shortly after Facebook made the same disclosure.