Yahoo Issues Its First Transparency Report

Yahoo has joined the ranks of large online businesses like Google and Facebook who have made it a practice to disclose the number and kind (if not all the details) of requests they've received from government agencies for user data. Its first report (you can read it here) lists "12,444 requests from U.S. authorities relating to a total of 40,322 user accounts." Those numbers are only part of the story, though: at the bottom of the linked report, note this disclaimer from Yahoo: "The numbers reported above include all types of government data requests such as criminal law enforcement requests and those under U.S. national security authorities, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and National Security Letters (NSLs), if any were received. The U.S. Government does not permit us to disclose additional details regarding the number of requests, if any, under national security authorities at this time, or even to separate them in aggregate from other requests. Additionally, the government would not authorize us to separate NSLs from other government data requests or to express the NSLs that we have received, if any, as a range from 0 to 1,000—even though the government allowed other providers to do so in the past."

Comments

Heh.

[SeaFox]

I'm slightly amused the Yahoo icon on this story has a transparent background.

Re:Heh.

[FriendlyLurker]

I'm slightly amused the Yahoo icon on this story has a transparent background.

For all the good this transparency does to restore our confidence. The Snowden leaks/NSA documents clearly show that the NSA directly taps into the backend systems without any need to reque4st anything from these companies - Google, Yahoo, Facebook etc. The only time these companies receive extra requests like the ones being reported above is when the NSA want's to do more proactive monitoring or targeted individuals that requires hooking into the front end (monitoring search as you type etc). PR departments have been working overtime to try and muddle, confuse and distract from this small detail - do not let them off the hook so easily people - this is not transparancy.

Re:Heh.

[Kozz]

I'm slightly amused the Yahoo icon on this story has a transparent background.

Yeah, the icon design finally got out of alpha.

Outraged, how dare the government violate me.

[Anonymous Coward]

We should be pissed about this. It reveals our fears about government overreach. They should not be digging into our private affairs regardless of where the data is stored. It is a human right to free from persecution over thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and intentions. Until a crime has been committed there should be no investigation and no violation of my space.

Re:Outraged, how dare the government violate me.

[Anonymous Coward]

This was Yahoo not Myspace! :-P

Re:Outraged, how dare the government violate me.

[John.Banister]

So the number of requests disclosed and the number of requests you might expect from agencies that don't have the ability to force Yahoo not to disclose their requests kind of match?

I don't feel particularly paranoid, but I find it relatively difficult to feel much in the way of trust. Also, getting first ever transparency shortly after seeing lots of news highlighting the reason to believe there's a large possibility of transparency theater feels like the decision making of a committee in a PR department.

Re:Outraged, how dare the government violate me.

[smpoole7]

> Until a crime has been committed there should be no investigation and no violation of my space.

You've hit the nail on the head. In the US, we used to have a principle: "innocent until proven guilty."

The problem is, the more that the citizenry of the US come to believe in an all-powerful nanny state (forgive me for using the pejorative term, I haven't finished my coffee and can't think of a milder one), the more likely they are to scream, "why didn't the government *PREVENT* this from happening" ... whenever something bad occurs.

(Corollary: the people also yell, "why didn't the government *FIX* this faster when it DID happen," but that's arguably off-topic.)

The sad truth is that no politician, Dem or Repub, wants to be seen as having done nothing to prevent another 9/11. They know that their opponents will make hay about it. So, we get to live in a surveillance state.

Never forget...

[harvey the nerd]

"...He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance."
July 1776

Re:idiots.

[Anonymous Coward]

don't slam yahoo here, they are telling the truth as much as the spooks will allow -- and besides, where would yahoo get the cash to fund a long, expensive, landmark court battle against the infinite funds of the three letters and the government?

Not believing it

[Anonymous Coward]

With secret orders approved by secret courts under secret laws that Yahoo cannot disclose anything about, these reported numbers mean nothing.

Re:Not believing it

[geogob]

How was it again, what they said?
If you are not doing anything wrong, you don't have to hide it and don't have to worry?

It's a nice case of "look who's talking".

Re:Good, but...

[Anne Thwacks]

Simple: If you sent emails, the govermment accessed them. Dont you even have a tin-foil hat?

Re:Is it just me that doesn't care?

[lxs]

They don't until there is another wacky bomber manhunt that happens to cross your path. Now you may only have wanted to fix your own plumbing but those pipes you googled look suspiciously like the ones used in the unexploded pipe bomb they found. Before you know it the scene at your apartment building resembles the climax of the Professional.

Oh and by the way, not being interesting isn't something to be proud of.

Re:idiots.

[fastest fascist]

"Additionally, the government would not authorize us to separate NSLs from other government data requests or to express the NSLs that we have received, if any, as a range from 0 to 1,000" Did Yahoo just circumspectly say they have received between 0 and 1,000 National Security Letters?