If you were not aware of it, Verizon releases a “Transparency Report” twice per year that provides the public with information regarding Wiretaps, Warrants, Subpoenas, among other orders requested by the Government. The report is composed of two main categories, one for the United States and a second that includes information for the rest of the regions around the globe.
Under the U.S. category, we find six (6) sub-sections that provide total numbers, leading the scoreboard are Subpoenas with a total of 69,596. The other sections are General Orders (25,929), Pen Register/ Trap & Trace (3,787), Wiretaps (645), Warrants (13,552), and Emergency Requests from Law Enforcement (31,239). According to the report, there were a total of 144,748 requests in the first half of 2018 from federal, state or local law enforcement. There is a 7th type of request called a “FISA Order,” which stands for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, and are address by Verizon separately. FISA requests are issued by a judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court; the court considers requests by government agencies like the FBI or NSA that wish to collect or conduct intelligence operations in the United States.
Verizon also shared that the vast majority for the various types of demands relate to consumer customers and that they receive relatively few demands regarding enterprise customers. It is important to add that Verizon does not automatically release customer information for every request, as they require the government agency to cite a law that warrants the petition, or in an emergency event that involves the danger of death or serious physical injury. However, for the first half of 2018, Verizon rejected three percent of the subpoenas received and more than four percent of the warrant orders. There are a number of reasons why an order is denied and labeled as legally invalid, including telling authorities that a different type of legal process is needed for the type of information requested. When a demand is rejected, no information is produced or released.
Moving into the international category, Verizon includes countries that demand customer data. Due to the various laws among all the nations, they do not specifically break down the orders into sub-categories, as they do for the U.S.
Germany leads the table with 511 demands, by far the most for the first half of 2018. According to Verizon’s report, only three other countries requested customer information; Netherlands (10), Italy (9), and UK (1). The rest of the countries on the list, had no inquiries so far this year, which include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Taiwan.
However, many would find the second table on the report more interesting, which includes “Blocking” demand. Verizon shared that on occasions they are required by governments around the world to block access to specific websites due to regulations or other legal requirements. To be clear, these are requests to block access to a website, not a request to remove user content.
Leading the “Blocking” table is Colombia, at 2,368 demands. Followed by Greece (1064), Poland (1100), Hungary (45), and Belgium (9). While the United States has not submitted blocking demands, Verizon explained that they have received such demands in a handful of other countries; generally, because the websites are contrary to laws in those countries relating to child pornography, online gambling or copyright. This list should also include India, but Verizon is precluded by law from identifying the specific number of blocked websites India may have ordered.
In conclusion, it has to be said that the entire report is a lot more extensive in details, in comparison to what we were able to break down in this summary. It gives a great insight into why wireless carriers may need to make changes to the way they operate, which often leaves many users with more questions than answers.
