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Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) wants to be more transparent about sharing information with law enforcement. The release of the Transparency Report by Verizon Communications is an important step in this direction.
The report will be updated bi-annually and shows the number of law enforcement requests Verizon made for customer information in 2013. It also includes data about other countries where Verizon does business.
In a blog post, Randal Milch, Verizon’s general counsel and executive vice president of public policy, stated that “the past year saw a strong focus around the globe on government requests to obtain customer data.” “We consider the Transparency Report to be a positive addition to the ongoing discussion about privacy and public safety.”
According to the telco, it received about 320,000 requests from U.S. federal, state and local law enforcement for customer information in 2013. The telco stated that it received a small number of requests from other countries last year for data stored in the United States.
This comes as telcos are under intense scrutiny by various groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who filed a shareholder lawsuit against AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon over how they share information.
Verizon Business had to provide its call details to the U.S National Security Agency following the April bombing of the Boston Marathon.
The government and U.S. telecom companies like Verizon have been controversial in collecting data. Last week, President Barack Obama declared that the U.S. government would no longer collect mass amounts of Americans’ telephone data and instead store the information within the government.
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