SecurityManagement.com Four major U.S. technology companies have largely ended the practice of “quietly complying with investigators’ demands for e-mail records and other online data..

By Megan Gates

05/05/2014 

Four major U.S. technology companies have largely ended the practice of “quietly complying with investigators’ demands for e-mail records and other online data, saying that users have a right to know in advance when their information is targeted for government seizure,” according to The Washington Post. Making the change are Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google, who are all updating their policies to expand routine notification of users about government data seizures, unless prevented by a court order. They are following in the footsteps of Yahoo, which announced similar changes in July. The new changes come without the support of the Department of Justice, which said in a statement that the new policies "threaten investigations and put potential crime victims in greater peril." The new policies will affect some government requests for data, but will not affect data requests approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which are kept secret by law, and national security letters, which carry binding gag orders.

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