Google's Latest Transparency Report Mocks The Gag Order FISC Puts On Them Over NSA Requests
from the not-so-subtle dept
Google has released the latest version of its transparency report concerning government requests. While they focus on how government requests for information have doubled over the past three years, they also have a not-at-all-subtle jab at the FISA Court and the DOJ for continuing to block their efforts to reveal how many FISA Amendments Act Section 702 requests (the so-called PRISM requests) they get from the government, and how many people it impacts. As you hopefully already know, Google (along with other tech companies) is in the process of suing the government over this restriction on its free speech. You can see that demonstrated pretty clearly in the bottom righthand quadrant of the graphic they released. Just call it the “redacted” infographic.
We want to go even further. We believe it’s your right to know what kinds of requests and how many each government is making of us and other companies. However, the U.S. Department of Justice contends that U.S. law does not allow us to share information about some national security requests that we might receive. Specifically, the U.S. government argues that we cannot share information about the requests we receive (if any) under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But you deserve to know.
Earlier this year, we brought a federal case to assert that we do indeed have the right to shine more light on the FISA process. In addition, we recently wrote a letter of support (PDF) for two pieces of legislation currently proposed in the U.S. Congress. And we’re asking governments around the world to uphold international legal agreements that respect the laws of different countries and guarantee standards for due process are met.
The longer the government keeps this form of censorship up, the worse it looks. What could possibly be “revealed” by letting Google and others say how many requests they’ve received under that act? The pervasive secrecy from the NSA may be a cultural trait, but there is no basis for it here.
Filed Under: first amendment, fisa amendments act, gag order, nsa, section 702, surveillance, transparency, transparency report
Companies: google
Comments on “Google's Latest Transparency Report Mocks The Gag Order FISC Puts On Them Over NSA Requests”
* slow hand clap *
Very witty, he says in a sarcastic tone.
Maybe once they’re done with the P.R. stunts, they can focus on NOT systematically stripping the user’s freedoms on Android and Chrome?
Re: Re:
It’s called firefox and firmware.
I’m glad they are keeping this up after the big fuck you.
All bunched up
I sure would hate to be Eric Holder’s panties today!
Re: All bunched up
I would always hate to be Eric Holder’s panties.
The NSA just doesn’t like it’s personal privacy violated.
How about a report of how much information was taken WITHOUT being requested?
Answer
What could possibly be “revealed” by letting Google and others say how many requests they’ve received under that act?
The massive number of requests highlighting the extent of the abuse.
Phony PR, while Google omits how much routinely sells gov't.
And yet another pro-Google piece thrown together in maybe five minutes by Masnick, merely re-written from prior on the net. — That’s sheer fact, fanboys.
So what exactly is the draw to Techdirt? I like it because a small forum where I stand out, which leverages my rants without the bother of my own web-site, but you kids continually overlook Mike’s 1% Ivy League elitist pro-corporate views that are contrary to our 99% interests, I guess because think that his preferring some new grifters to live off artists over the old “legacy” players which now do means that he agrees with all your piratey notions, but in fact Mike “supports copyright”! There’s whatcha call some cognitive dissonance here, but it ain’t from me.
All the news you saw last week on other sites, re-written to cherry pick points that fit Mike’s agenda.
05:05:17[g-26-8]
Re: Phony PR, while Google omits how much routinely sells gov't.
You realize the only people you potentially fool with your posts are newbs. After a couple threads it’s quite easy to see who the revisionis, nutjob in the room is and its not Mike.
Re: Phony PR, while Google omits how much routinely sells gov't.
I like it because a small forum where I stand out …
You sure do. As a giant shithead.
… which leverages my rants …
To whom, do you think? Nobody takes you seriously. At all.
… without the bother of my own web-site …
Translation: nobody would bother to visit a site such a site.
Re: Phony PR, while Google omits how much routinely sells gov't.
“So what exactly is the draw to Techdirt? I like it because a small forum where I stand out”
No, you’re a sad, pathetic, little troll with no life. If you wanted to “stand out,” you’d post insightful comments under your real name. Instead, you hide behind anonymity.* That isn’t standing out.
* I’m a fan of anonymity when it’s needed to hide from injustice. I’m not so much a fan when it’s a SPLT hiding from any and all consequences of its ill-considered speech.
Re: Phony PR, while Google omits how much routinely sells gov't.
1% Ivy League elitist pro-corporate views that are contrary to our 99% interests
Some of us work hard and have ambitions of being in the top 1%. You obviously like to sit on your ass and troll which explains why you are at the bottom of 99%.
Re: Re: Phony PR, while Google omits how much routinely sells gov't.
This, a thousand times.
Re: Re: Phony PR, while Google omits how much routinely sells gov't.
This comment is so damn sad I don’t even know where to begin.
For the sake of your happiness I advise you to give up on the top 1% and pursue something worthwhile or at least respectable instead.
Re: Phony PR, while Google omits how much routinely sells gov't.
So what exactly is the draw to Techdirt? I like it because a small forum where I stand out, which leverages my rants without the bother of my own web-site…
[OOTB to English translation]:
Is a Blue one of those grifters he/she keeps yapping about? You decide.
Re: Phony PR, while Google omits how much routinely sells gov't.
Attention whore much, Cathy? Thank you for admitting it, Crazy Cat/Copyright lady.
She has a website, people, but nobody wants to read her crap so she comes here to get the attention she craves for her warped views.
Mike is a small “L” libertarian, if anything. That means he demands due process be enforced and that the public interest is served. He has stated both of these facts over and over again in his articles, but you were too busy wishing he would ask you out to notice that, weren’t you. Damn, you’re so boring the NSA can’t be bothered to spy on you!
Yet here you are, grifting away on Mike’s hard-won audience, you massive hypocrite. Go home Cathy, you’re drunk. Cognitive dissonance? We see it in every comment you make here!
this censorship is a pittance in relation to what is coming if TPP goes through! we dont know yet what censorship really is, but once the USA entertainment industries and Pharma companies get their way, including the ability to bankrupt countries via the recently introduced ability of a company to sue a country for projected or assumed losses, then we will see things change! the USA is going to push that part through as vigorously as possible because it can see a way of taking over another country completely, without going to war or firing a missile, simply by offering to bail out that bankrupt country! the reach and orders of an obsessed and paranoid government will be boundless. the true way of taking over the world in a bloodless coup. just wait for the complete fuck up that will accompany this move!
Perhaps the reason the government does not wish the number of requests to be known is because it would reveal that they are targeting more than terrorists. The number of requests might be a closer match to the number of protesters who were active in any given time period.
germany and france
80 million germans compared to 300 million americans (and roughly the same when comparing internet users?) means the german government is as nosy as the US government. France is even worse.