Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) disclosed its Law Enforcement Requests Report for 2013. According to the software giant, the third report covers the period from July to December last year.
John Frank, deputy general counsel and vice president, Legal and Corporate Affairs of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) said the report focused on the demands from criminal law enforcement agencies worldwide, and does not included legal demands under the U.S. national security laws.
Commitment to transparency
“These reports are part of our ongoing commitment to transparency on these issues. We believe that public availability of such data is important to our customers as well as to an increasingly broad community of advocates and stakeholders working to find the appropriate balance of policies that promote public safety and personal data privacy,” said Frank.
Microsoft is consistent with previous reports
According to Frank, the latest 2013 Law Enforcement Requests Report of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is consistent with its previous reports.
During the second half of 2013, the software giant received 35,083 requests from law enforcement agencies that have potential impact on 58,676 accounts. According to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), 76% of the requests led to the disclosure of non-content data, and only 2.32% resulted to the disclosure of customer data.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) revealed that 80% of the request came from law enforcement agencies in the United States. The company said majority of he demands came from France, Germany, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States
According to the company, it received only three legal orders for data related to the use of its commercial services by its enterprise customers. The demands seek information involving 15 accounts. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) revealed information in response to the three legal orders.
Separate report related to demands under national security laws
Frank also emphasized that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) managed to publish a separate report related to demands under the national security laws of the United States after the company together with Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and other entities filed lawsuits against the government. The companies argued that they have legal and constitutional rights to disclose more detailed information regarding the legal demands particularly under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Last month, the company disclosed that it received less than 1,000 legal requests under FISA for the disclosure of customer content related to 15,000 and 15,999 accounts.
In addition, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) also received less than 1,000 FISA requests for non-content data only seeking information to approximately 1,000 accounts. The company also received National Security letters for less than 1,000 accounts.
