Yahoo announced Monday that it received between 12,000 and 13,000 data requests from U.S. law enforcement agencies, including criminal requests and requests under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), between December 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013.
The company joined heavyweight tech firms Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple in disclosing partial data request numbers while challenging the federal government to allow it to disclose FISA request figures.
“Like all companies, Yahoo! cannot lawfully break out FISA request numbers at this time because those numbers are classified; however, we strongly urge the federal government to reconsider its stance on this issue,” CEO Marissa Mayer and General Counsel Ron Bell wrote in a statement on the company’s blog.
