Facebook And Microsoft Reveal Spying Requests
Details of tens of thousands of queries by US officials emerge after the firms strike a deal with security authorities.Facebook and Microsoft have revealed that US government agencies made tens of thousands of requests for user data in the second half of last year.
The firms were able to release the information after reaching a deal about disclosures with US national security authorities.The companies are fighting a public backlash after former CIA technical assistant Edward Snowden claimed they were among nine internet firms that turned over user data to America's secret National Security Agency surveillance programme, code-named Prism.
Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Google and Yahoo have all denied the allegations that the NSA can directly access their servers.
Facebook's Ted Ullyot said the social networking site received between 9,000 and 10,000 requests from various "government entities" in the last six months of 2012, involving 18,000 to 19,000 of its users' accounts.
The requests covered issues ranging from missing children to terrorist threats, he added.
Microsoft said that for the same period it received between 6,000 and 7,000 "criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders" affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 consumer accounts from local, state and federal governmental agencies.
In a rare alliance, Facebook, Microsoft and Google are
publicly pressuring the Obama administration to loosen its legal gag on government surveillance orders, including confidential requests made under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Mr Ullyot said: "We're continuing to push for even more transparency, so that our users around the world can understand how infrequently we are asked to provide user data on national security grounds."
The US launched a criminal investigation after Mr Snowden blew the lid on the NSA's vast electronic surveillance operation.
On Friday, US Attorney General Eric Holder said he was confident Mr Snowden would be prosecuted for "extremely damaging" leaks.
The 29-year-old, who remains in hiding in Hong Kong, has vowed to fight any bid to extradite him
s.