Verizon Says 130,000 US Law Enforcement Demands for Customer Data in 2nd Half 2016
Verizon received nearly 130,000 U.S. law enforcement demands for customer data in the second half of 2016, it reported Friday. The figure is about 6,500 less than the first six months of 2016 and more than 10,000 less than the…
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same period in 2015. Of the nearly 130,000 demands, more than 60,000 were subpoenas, more than 28,000 were orders, more than 10,000 were warrants and about 27,000 were emergency requests. General Counsel Craig Silliman said in a blog post that protecting its customers' privacy is a "bedrock commitment" and the company scrutinizes each law enforcement demand it gets. The company said it received 0-499 national security letters (NSLs) in the second half of 2016 from the FBI. The agency sought between 1,000-1,499 selectors or identifiers that typically refer to a phone number specifying a customer. The number of selectors is usually higher than the number of customer accounts, it said. Silliman said the company "received three NSLs over the past few years for which the non-disclosure requirements have been lifted."