If one silver lining exists from all of the news surrounding the U.S. government’s increasingly invasive data requests from communications companies, it’s the new trend of transparency reports. Following Verizon’s report last month, AT&T published its first transparency report today, which details more than 300,000 requests for customer data from government agencies last year.
American law enforcement agencies tapped AT&T for user data more than 300,000 times in 2013. The company released its first-ever transparency report on Tuesday, making it the second major telephone service provider to do so. Verizon released its own transparency report nearly a month ago, revealing more than 320,000 requests for user data in 2013. AT&T‘s report reveals that 80% of law enforcement requests for data came in the form of subpoenas, which do not require a court order to obtain. In these instances, the company is not required to hand over the content of calls and messages, only metadata such as the customer’s name, address and phone logs.
