14 DAY TRIAL // The Obama administration is making a new concession and starts allowing tech companies to reveal more information about how often the government monitors Internet use, something that many have asked on countless occasions even before the NSA scandal.
Thus, companies such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple will be able to disclose exactly how many demands they get from the government. They will be forced to release the data in broad ranges.
This is the first time when companies will be allowed to disclose exactly how many court orders the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (the secretive court that was put together to handle requests from the National Security Agency) sends their way.
The FISA court is considered to be a mere rubber stamp, something that has been contradicted by its members. The fact that they didn’t deny any of the thousand records made by the NSA in the past few years tells another story.
Furthermore, companies will also be allowed to say how many National Security Letter they receive from the FBI.
The new pact focuses on the government’s scrutiny of Internet traffic and doesn’t apply to the metadata collection program that has annoyed so many. However, it seems to appease tech companies’ desire to share more information and the government’s need to keep some level of secrecy.
Tech firms have been complaining about the damage in trust that they are suffering because they are not allowed to share information about the secretive requests they receive all the time.
Not too long ago, many tech companies have joined forces to demand more transparency when it comes to such orders.
It looks like Obama’s administration would rather reach some sort of agreement with tech companies on its own than wait around until one angry judge gives the green light to even more transparency.