MANILA, Philippines – Following the news regarding US intelligence agencies mining data from web companies, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have urged the US government to allow them to disclose more details to the public whenever state security agencies ask for data from them.

The law that makes this possible is called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). According to the Federation of American Scientists, FISA outlines procedures for getting authorization to perform electronic surveillance and searches of people “engaged in espionage or international terrorism against the United States on behalf of a foreign power.”

Google’s blog post on Tuesday, June 11, was sent to the offices of the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Google said it has worked hard to earn user trust, and wants to maintain this trust in light of recent events. It said:

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.

Of note in their statement is the wording. Google’s message acknowledges that it gets FISA requests. In the past, Google worded its statements in such a way that it did not admit to receiving any requests–in an apparent attempt to avoid violating any laws.

Microsoft followed suit, with an emailed statement to Reuters agreeing with Google’s stance. “Permitting greater transparency on the aggregate volume and scope of national security requests, including FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) orders, would help the community understand and debate these important issues,” Microsoft said. It added that its reports went “as far as we legally could and the government should take action to allow companies to provide additional transparency.”

Facebook’s statement was more subdued, agreeing with the sentiment of Google and Microsoft without pointing to FISA itself.

Ted Ullyot, Facebook’s general counsel, wrote that Facebook welcomed a chance to provide a transparency report that would let it be more open about the government requests it receives, and how Facebook responds.

Ullyot added, “We urge the United States government to help make that possible by allowing companies to include information about the size and scope of national security requests we receive, and look forward to publishing a report that includes that information.” – Rappler.com