The Justice Department came into an agreement with Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc., Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. after the Internet companies asked judges to allow a disclosure of data under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the Associated Press reported.
The new agreement was announced Monday and will allow Internet companies to release more information on the amount of requested data by the National Security Agency but only on "very general terms" because of ongoing national security investigations, according to the AP.
The agreement will allow the companies to report the number of criminal-related orders from the government and will now be able to release the number of secret national security-related orders from the government, as well as the number of national-security-related orders from the FISA court, the AP reported. A number of how many customers were affected by the orders will also be released.
Though the agreement will allow more transparency between the Internet companies and their users who have expressed concern about their privacy, the agreement will not allow the companies to release the number of national security orders for another six months, the AP reported.
The agreement also states if any new types of communication or technology are created, the companies can not reveal that the government can tap into it for two years, according to the AP.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union who filed a brief backing the Internet companies, said the deal only "partially" removes the hold on companies to release data, but added it is "a victory for transparency," the AP reported.
Since Edward Snowden leaked NSA files disclosing the amount of data being gathered from Internet companies, the process of how the government is acquiring data has been under a critical eye, according to the AP.
"It is commendable that the companies pressed the government for more openness, but even more is needed. Congress should require the government to publish basic information about the full extent of its surveillance," Alex Abdo, a lawyer with the ACLU's National Security Project, told the AP.
The agreement also states the companies can choose a reporting process that allows a report of the criminal-related orders, followed by the national security of intelligence orders in groups of 250, according to the AP. It also stated the number of customers targeted will also be released in groups of 250.
"These new reporting methods enable communications providers to make public more information than ever before about the orders that they have received to provide data to the government," Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole said in a letter to the five Internet companies, the AP reported.
"Permitting disclosure of this aggregate data addresses an important area of concern to communications providers and the public," Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in a joint statement, according to the AP.
