Google Petitions For Further Transparency With National Security Requests

With the recent uproar with The National Security Agency and PRISM, many tech companies have come forward to deny any claims that they give the government user information without the users knowing, and to prove that, companies are now wanting to publicly post national security requests for full transparency. However, Google wants to take it a step further.

Last week, Google sent a formal request to the FBI requesting permission to reveal FISA requests in the search giant's Transparency Report, which have mostly been kept secret in the past to comply with government officials. However, even if they do get permission, Google will have to include these requests in with other requests that are mostly unrelated.

As a result, Google has petitioned to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow the company to publish national security requests separately, saying that "lumping national security requests together with criminal requests...would be a backward step for our users."

Google said in the past that they "have nothing to hide," and they're willing to prove that by not only meeting the bar, but exceeding it. Google believes that in publicly posting the requests that they get will show the public that Google doesn't allow unrestricted access to its servers, and claims made against the company are way out of proportion.

In the end, we'll still see some heated debates about the subject, and a lot of criticism is bound to still fly off the walls, but this is certainly a foot in the right direction for Google, and hopefully more companies will follow suit and go above and beyond.

SOURCE: Google