Google Asks Attorney General For Permission To Publish Requests For National Security Data

Google has sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney General asking for permission to publish requests it receives for user data.

Google and other tech companies receive these kind of requests from the government all the time. The requests usually ask for data from a specific person if that person is suspected of a crime.

However, the tech companies say they always put such requests through intense scrutiny before complying. This has become standard practice.

Now Google wants the government's permission to publish how many requests it receives and what kind of data the government asks for. Google plans to publish that data in its Transparency Report.

Here's the letter from Google:

Dear Attorney General Holder and Director Mueller:

Google has worked tremendously hard over the past fifteen years to earn our users’ trust. For example, we offer encryption across our services; we have hired some of the best security engineers in the world; and we have consistently pushed back on overly broad government requests for our users’ data.

We have always made clear that we comply with valid legal requests. And last week, the Director of National Intelligence acknowledged that service providers have received Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests.

Assertions in the press that our compliance with these requests gives the U.S. government unfettered access to our users’ data are simply untrue. However, government nondisclosure obligations regarding the number of FISA national security requests that Google receives, as well as the number of accounts covered by those requests, fuel that speculation.

We therefore ask you to help make it possible for Google to publish in our Transparency Report aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures—in terms of both the number we receive and their scope. Google’s numbers would clearly show that our compliance with these requests falls far short of the claims being made. Google has nothing to hide.

Google appreciates that you authorized the recent disclosure of general numbers for national security letters. There have been no adverse consequences arising from their publication, and in fact more companies are receiving your approval to do so as a result of Google’s initiative. Transparency here will likewise serve the public interest without harming national security.

We will be making this letter public and await your response.

David Drummond
Chief Legal Officer