Microsoft has released the second report of the governments' request for user data from January to June 2013. More than 37,000 requests affecting 66,539 accounts were received during this period.
Microsoft, the world's largest software company, has released a report revealing the number of user data requests it has received from various law enforcement agencies around the world during the first half of 2013. The report, released Friday, reveals that 37,196 user data requests affecting 66,539 accounts were received from the governments.
This is the second report released by Microsoft since its earlier revelation in 2012, when it got 75,378 data requests affecting 137,424 accounts for 2012. The current report shows that out all the data requests, only 2.19 percent revealed actual customer content. Moreover, 92 percent of these requests were from the United States government.
Despite, Microsoft being open about releasing user data requests, the government has ordered the company not to reveal any "information about the type and volume of any national security orders (e.g. FISA Orders and FISA Directives) that [Microsoft] may receive." Hence the total number excludes any national security requests.
Google and Microsoft both have petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for permission to be more transparent about data requests from the government.
"However we recognize that this report-focused on law enforcement and excluding national security-only paints part of the picture," Microsoft said on its website. "We believe the U.S. Constitution guarantees our freedom to share more information with you and are therefore are currently petitioning the federal government for permission to publish more detailed data relating to any legal demands we may have received from the U.S. pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)."
The report shows that 28,698 cases revealed "non-content data" and 4,569 requests were from the U.S. government. The majority of requests were from 5 governments (73 percent) including the United States, Turkey, Germany, the United Kingdom and France.
The current trend in the governments' user data needs shows that by the end of 2013, the number will end up the same as the report from last year.
