14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has revealed the contents of a National Security Letter (NSL) sent by the FBI in 2014 as part of a request for user information, which also contained a gag order forbidding the company from discussing the secret subpoena from the Bureau.
This is the first time Microsoft discloses the content of an NSL, though there are no specifics on what information the FBI was looking after.
“Microsoft is the latest in a series of companies able to disclose an NSL due to provisions in the USA Freedom Act requiring the FBI to review previously issued non-disclosure orders. The NSL was included in the aggregate data of a previous report, but we’re newly able to disclose its content for this reporting period,” the company said in a statement today.
A matter of national security
The letter received from the FBI does not allow Microsoft to disclose the content of the letter not only to other parties but also to the user himself, as this could have an impact on the ongoing investigation, the bureau states in the document.
“While fulfilling your obligations under this letter, please do not disable, suspend, lock, cancel or interrupt service to the above-described subscriber or account. A service interruption or degradation may alert the subscription/account user that investigative action is being taken,” the letter says.
As for the reasons Microsoft has been blocked from disclosing the content of the letter, the FBI points to a series of factors, including national security and counterterrorism.
“I certify that a disclosure of the fact that the FBI has sought or obtained access to the information sought by this letter may endanger the national security of the United States, interfere with a criminal, counterterrorism, or counterintelligence investigation, interfere with diplomatic relations, or endanger the life or physical safety of a person.”
Microsoft also revealed that it received 25,837 requests for customer information in the second half of 2016, bringing the total number of requests for the last year to 61,409, down from 74,311 the year before.