It seems the BIG brother is after all online service providers. After Google and Facebook published their transparency report which provides great insight on government’s and non-government agencies requests on users data, Yahoo has published its first global transparency report, which details government data requests from January 1, 2013 through June 30, 2013.
According to the transparency report, Indian Government and other Government agencies has made 1,490 request for sharing data and request on account details of 2704 users processed by Yahoo India Private Limited.
On this Government request Yahoo has disclosed content for 341 request and rejected 500 requests. For 494 request Yahoo has only disclosed Non-content data (NCD) such as basic subscriber information including the information captured at the time of registration such as an alternate e-mail address, name, location, and IP address, login details, billing information, and other transactional information.
Yahoo rejected about 500 India Government request on grounds of a defect or other problem with the Government data request. Like the government agency sought information outside its jurisdiction or the request only sought data that could not be lawfully obtained with the legal process provided.
But when considering United States, they have made 12,444 request for sharing data and request on account details of 40,322 users processed by Yahoo.
Everytime Yahoo receives a Government Data Requests it review for legal sufficiency and interpret them narrowly in an effort to produce the least amount of data necessary to comply with the request.
Source – Yahoo Transparency Report