Rob Pegoraro's post on Internet Privacy | Latest updates on Sulia

Microsoft opens up about law-enforcement data requests and how it responds to them. Thanks, Microsoft.

Microsoft followed the good examples of Google and Twitter by summarizing the law-enforcement information requests it gets worldwide (http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/reporting/transparency/). This is a great development. In the United States, the company says it got 11,073 requests in 2012 covering 24,565 users or accounts. It disclosed "non-content" data (things like usernames and IP addresses, shown in a FAQ with an example of just what MS turns over) for 7,196 of those requests and provided actual content for 1,544. Another table lists requests for its Skype subsidiary: 1,154 in the U.S. last year, covering 4,814 accounts--with zero content disclosed. Also of note: Microsoft says it got "0-999" National Security Letters last year. It, like Google (https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/userdatarequests/US/), only disclosed ranges because the Obama administration won't allow more detail about NSLs--just held unconstitutional by a district court.

http://media1.sulia.com/static/user_images/41/2013-03-21/d99204b4-b355-432a-8889-4b37175e90f2