sailingaway
03-21-2013, 02:07 PM
ERLIN — Microsoft disclosed on Thursday for the first time the number of requests it had received from government law enforcement agencies for data on its hundreds of millions of customers around the world, joining the ranks of Google, Twitter and other Web businesses that publish so-called transparency reports.
The Microsoft report, which it said it planned to update every six months, showed that law enforcement agencies in five countries — Turkey, the United States, Britain, France and Germany — accounted for 69 percent of the 70,665 requests Microsoft received last year.
In 80 percent of requests, Microsoft provided agencies with elements of what is called noncontent data, like an account holder’s name, gender, e-mail address, I.P. address, country of residence, and dates and times of data traffic.
In 2.1 percent of requests, Microsoft disclosed the actual content of a communication, like the subject headline of an e-mail, the contents of an e-mail or a picture stored on SkyDrive, its cloud computing service.
Microsoft said it disclosed the content of communications in 1,544 cases to U.S. law enforcement agencies, and in 14 cases to agents in Brazil, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand.
“Government requests for online data are like the dark matter of the Internet,” said Eva Galperin, a global policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, which has campaigned for greater disclosure.
She said that even with Microsoft’s disclosures, fewer than 10 companies published the extent of their cooperation with law enforcement agencies.
“Only a few companies report this, but they are only a very small percent of the online universe,” Ms. Galperin said. “So any one company that joins the disclosure effort is good news. The faster this becomes a standard for all Web businesses, the better.”
The law enforcement requests concerned users of Microsoft services including Hotmail, Outlook.com, SkyDrive, Skype and Xbox Live, where people are typically asked to enter their personal details to obtain service.
Google was the first major Web business in 2010 to report the level of legal requests it received for information. Since then, Twitter, LinkedIn and some smaller companies have also reported, but big businesses like Apple and Yahoo have not.
Microsoft also initially resisted. In January, a group of more than 100 Internet activists and digital rights groups signed a petition asking Microsoft to disclose its data-handling practices for Skype, the Internet voice and video service it bought in 2011.
But Microsoft did provide two new facets of detail in its transparency report that rivals have not addressed in similar fashion.
It supplied details on the reasons it rejected some requests, and it listed separate categories by country on how it responded to requests for actual content of communications and to requests for noncontent data.
In its transparency report, Microsoft also published separate information for Skype, which is based in Luxembourg and is subject to national and E.U. law.
more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/technology/microsoft-releases-report-on-law-enforcement-requests.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
The Microsoft report, which it said it planned to update every six months, showed that law enforcement agencies in five countries — Turkey, the United States, Britain, France and Germany — accounted for 69 percent of the 70,665 requests Microsoft received last year.
In 80 percent of requests, Microsoft provided agencies with elements of what is called noncontent data, like an account holder’s name, gender, e-mail address, I.P. address, country of residence, and dates and times of data traffic.
In 2.1 percent of requests, Microsoft disclosed the actual content of a communication, like the subject headline of an e-mail, the contents of an e-mail or a picture stored on SkyDrive, its cloud computing service.
Microsoft said it disclosed the content of communications in 1,544 cases to U.S. law enforcement agencies, and in 14 cases to agents in Brazil, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand.
“Government requests for online data are like the dark matter of the Internet,” said Eva Galperin, a global policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, which has campaigned for greater disclosure.
She said that even with Microsoft’s disclosures, fewer than 10 companies published the extent of their cooperation with law enforcement agencies.
“Only a few companies report this, but they are only a very small percent of the online universe,” Ms. Galperin said. “So any one company that joins the disclosure effort is good news. The faster this becomes a standard for all Web businesses, the better.”
The law enforcement requests concerned users of Microsoft services including Hotmail, Outlook.com, SkyDrive, Skype and Xbox Live, where people are typically asked to enter their personal details to obtain service.
Google was the first major Web business in 2010 to report the level of legal requests it received for information. Since then, Twitter, LinkedIn and some smaller companies have also reported, but big businesses like Apple and Yahoo have not.
Microsoft also initially resisted. In January, a group of more than 100 Internet activists and digital rights groups signed a petition asking Microsoft to disclose its data-handling practices for Skype, the Internet voice and video service it bought in 2011.
But Microsoft did provide two new facets of detail in its transparency report that rivals have not addressed in similar fashion.
It supplied details on the reasons it rejected some requests, and it listed separate categories by country on how it responded to requests for actual content of communications and to requests for noncontent data.
In its transparency report, Microsoft also published separate information for Skype, which is based in Luxembourg and is subject to national and E.U. law.
more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/technology/microsoft-releases-report-on-law-enforcement-requests.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0