Major companies that have been revealed to be part of the NSA spying program, PRISM, have been trying to do some damage control over the last week by denying involvement or revealing the number of government requests they receive. Yahoo! joins Apple in revealing the number of FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) the company has received in the last six months, which turned out to be between 12,000 and 13,000 requests. This is much more compared to Apple’s 4,000 to 5,000 requests.
Yahoo!’s CEO, Marissa Mayer, urged the US government to come forward with full details about the FISA request numbers since the company cannot lawfully reveal this information as it’s classified. Last week it was revealed that Yahoo! attempted to appeal a 2008 government court order to hand over customer information to US intelligence agencies like the NSA. The company ultimately lost the appeal.
Still, news that Yahoo! fought for privacy has reflected well on the company. Mayer goes on to say, “As always, we will continually evaluate whether further actions can be taken to protect the privacy of our users and our ability to defend it. We appreciate—and do not take for granted—the trust you place in us.”
[Source: Yahoo!]
