Verizon Wireless Inc. announced Thursday that it is going to release semi-annual reports detailing data requests of the government.
The broadband and telecommunications company, under pressure, has promised to release semi-annual reports on government data requests, which in turn, pleased several privacy advocates, who look forward to seeing changes, and marking the latest improvement to the controversial surveillance program of the National Security Agency (NSA).
Last month, investors of Verizon and AT&T, two of U.S.’s network giants, pushed them to disclose particulars on their sharing of data with government bureaus.
Releasing a semi-annual report is the company’s very first attempt to publish similar reports that will be readily available and accessible to its investors. The decision came out a day after a committee formed by the White House proposed limitation on several operations carried out by the federal security agency. Furthermore, this move may also pressure its rival AT&T to do the same.
The company initially intended to reveal government data requests through ad hoc requests from legislators than publicly, but now, they promised to make online reports of these data. The first report will be published early next year and will be updated twice a year to offer more transparency.
A number of Internet companies like Google Inc and Yahoo has already planned to do the same. Silicon Valley, on the other hand, fearing about user backlash, called for greater transparency in the U.S. government requests for user data.
Robert Varettoni, a spokesperson for Verizon, told Reuters the company was already formulating plans for an online transparency report even before it got the shareholder requests last November.
Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey, a vocal advocate of privacy, admired the company’s approach to the privacy issues and told Reuters in a statement, “Verizon is taking an important step toward transparency, and I call on the other wireless carriers to follow its lead and regularly disclose their law enforcement requests for wireless information."
