Cloud storage supplier Dropbox has joined Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook in petitioning a US court to let it open up about certain kinds of user data requests it receives, which are then fed to the National Security Agency (NSA).
Dropbox said it had issues with the way in which it was currently allowed to reveal details of requests from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), which has attracted plenty of attention following the damaging leaks of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
“Dropbox has an interest in these motions because the government has told Dropbox that it isn’t allowed to publish exactly how many national-security requests, if any, it receives,” the company’s submission to the court read.
“Instead, the government will permit Dropbox to provide information about national-security requests only if those requests are lumped together with regular law-enforcement requests and, even then, only in bands of 1,000.
“Because Dropbox received fewer than 100 regular law-enforcement requests last year, reporting in the government’s format would decrease Dropbox’s ongoing transparency efforts.”
Like all of those petitioning for greater transparency, Dropbox releases a report on the user data requests it gets, but little detail is provided.
Its latest figures covering the entirety of 2012, showed it received 87 requests, not including national security requests, from the US government. It received less than 20 for non-US governments.
What do you know about Internet security? Find out with our quiz!
Oracle's huge AI, Cloud investment in Japan will meet growing local demand and address digital…
People who create sexually explicit ‘deepfakes’ of adults will face prosecution under a new law…
Protest at cloud contract with Israel results in staff firings, in addition to layoffs of…
Microsoft warns of Russian influence campaigns have begun targetting upcoming US election, albeit at a…
Microsoft to avoid an EU investigation into its $13 billion investment in OpenAI, after EC…
As President Biden 'considers' request to drop Julian Assange extradition, US provides assurances to prevent…
View Comments
The dystopian fantasies of yesteryear are now a reality. We’ve allowed the coming of an age where the civil liberties our forefathers fought so hard for are being eroded by the day. Freedom of Press, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly are mere ghostly images of their original intent. We’ve woken up to an Orwellian Society of Fear where anyone is at the mercy of being labeled a terrorist for standing up for rights we took for granted just over a decade ago. Read about how we’re waging war against ourselves at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/09/living-in-society-of-fear-ten-years.html